Sheffield United preview: Blades bringing overlapping centre-backs to the Premier League August 8, 2019 Overlapping centre-backs. To those well versed in the basics of football tactics it sounds incongruous, like something experimentally toyed with on Football Manager, or conjured up by an over-ambitious Sunday league side. But this season it is a legitimate approach which will be seen in Premier League grounds all across the country. That’s because Sheffield [...]
Frank Lampard and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first meeting could be the beginning of a lesson in the value of nostalgia August 8, 2019 When Chelsea visit Old Trafford on Sunday, a combination of nostalgia and muted expectations will be the makings of an unfamiliar atmosphere between the two giants. From Jose Mourinho’s arrival in summer 2004 until Sergio Aguero’s last-gasp winner at Loftus Road in 2012, Chelsea and Manchester United were the only two teams to taste Premier [...]
A Netflix of football: Would it make business sense for the Premier League to launch its own streaming service? August 7, 2019 The new Premier League season starting on Friday also marks the start of a new broadcast rights cycle and a debut for Amazon Prime’s coverage. Over the top (OTT) sports services are here to stay and there is no shortage of analysts who feel the rights market has peaked. Former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan [...]
Football’s head injury policy is still flawed despite warnings August 7, 2019 At the end of last season Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin called on Fifa to introduce new concussion protocols, stating they “need updating to protect both the players and doctors”. It came after a year in which a number of footballers, including Tottenham’s Jan Vertonghen in a Champions League semi-final, were allowed to play on after [...]
Kevin De Bruyne shines as Manchester City beat Liverpool to the Community Shield at Wembley August 4, 2019 They say you can’t read too much into the Community Shield, especially when it’s won through the lottery of penalties, but Manchester City’s victory over Liverpool at Wembley still meant something. The two sides returned to action after battling it out last season, matching each other goal for goal and result for result, only for [...]
Salford set sights on League Two promotion as club stick with ambitious approach August 1, 2019 On a cold October’s night in 2013, just 65 people turned out to watch Salford City host Cammell Laird in the Evo-Stik League Division One North, the eighth tier of English football. It was the season before the club was taken over by a consortium that includes former Manchester United stars Gary and Phil Neville, [...]
The Community Shield has been called a glorified friendly but what is it worth to the winners? August 1, 2019 It has been 61 days since Liverpool lifted the European Cup in Madrid and this weekend the wait for club football to return will be over. August has arrived, the sun is shining and on Sunday we’re heading back to Wembley. It can only mean one thing: the Community Shield. The traditional curtain-raiser to a [...]
Brentford are getting Premier League ready behind the scenes as they prepare to bid farewell to Griffin Park August 1, 2019 The beginning of a new season is a special occasion for every football fan, but for those at Brentford, Saturday’s Championship fixture against Birmingham will hold extra significance. It will be the final time the Bees kick off their campaign at Griffin Park before moving on to pastures new – 0.5 miles up the road, [...]
QPR season preview: Youth is key as R’s rebuild from financial chaos July 30, 2019 Five years is a long time in football, particularly for Queens Park Rangers. And five years on from their last promotion to the Premier League, the club are still suffering from a failed shot at the big time during five manic seasons that saw them go up and down twice. QPR took the promotion gamble [...]
Millwall season preview: Lions sticking to their own path in bid to avoid costly Championship drop July 29, 2019 Millwall are playing a different game to the majority of their competitors in the Championship. Financially restricted and strategically conservative, the Lions are the antithesis of those former Premier League clubs spending big, desperate to make it back to the promised land. While others have shown little patience, chopping and changing managers, Millwall have stuck [...]