Quique Sanchez Flores’ Watford return is fraught with complications after frosty exit in 2016 September 12, 2019 When Watford wrote in their parting statement with manager Quique Sanchez Flores in May 2016 that he “leaves with all our best wishes for the future and the knowledge he is always welcome at Vicarage Road” it appeared a generic gesture of good will. But three years and three months – and three managers – [...]
Crystal Palace’s trip to Tottenham is a chance to continue their remarkable record on the road September 12, 2019 Every season the first international break interrupts the flow of the new Premier League season, putting it on hold after just four matches. It tends to leave the league table in peculiar shape, this time with Leicester City and Crystal Palace in the top four, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United languishing in mid-table, and Watford [...]
England 5-3 Kosovo: Three Lions show all their colours in wide-open thriller at St Mary’s September 10, 2019 Fans often moan that international football is boring, that games are one-sided and that results are predictable. Those gripes were nowhere to be heard tonight as England and Kosovo served up an absurdly open, seesawing and incident-packed eight-goal thriller at St Mary’s. It was a crazy Euro 2020 qualifier which had it all, displaying all [...]
Jadon Sancho can relieve England’s reliance on Raheem Sterling if given chance ahead of Marcus Rashford September 8, 2019 It sounds pernickety to demand more from a football team that has just won 4-0, taking their record in the current competition to: played three; won three; goals for: 14; goals against: one. But such is the nature of major tournament qualifying matches that England did not need to conjure an abundance of chances to [...]
Home affairs: All five British Isles teams can still reach Euro 2020 and lend tournament a distinctly British flavour September 5, 2019 For a tournament that is supposed to be pan-continental there is already a distinctly British flavour to next summer’s European Championship. Of 51 matches, 10 will be staged in London or Glasgow, with Wembley hosting both semi-finals and the final. But the Britishness could yet go up several notches, with all five British Isles teams [...]
The great Premier League giveaway: Why Sky Sports are handing over free highlights on YouTube September 4, 2019 Premier League football is an expensive commodity and to extract every ounce of its value broadcasters need to innovate. In February last year Sky Sports pledged £3.6bn to buy 128 live matches per season in the 2019-22 rights cycle. That might have worked out as a reduction from its previous deal – £4.2bn for 126 [...]
Are England and Jamie Vardy missing a trick or are they better off without each other? September 4, 2019 When Gareth Southgate reconvened his England squad this week ahead of the Euro 2020 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Kosovo he did so without one notable absentee: Jamie Vardy. With two goals for Leicester against Bournemouth on Saturday, Vardy took his tally to 12 in his last 14 Premier League appearances and underlined his claim to [...]
Economic theory can offer a lesson to struggling football clubs September 4, 2019 The expulsion of Bury FC from the English Football League last week continues to generate a huge amount of sound and fury. Regardless of the apparently dodgy nature of some of Bury’s transactions, the simple fact is that the club overspent massively in order to gain promotion from League Two last season. The surge in [...]
Gareth Southgate has tactical decisions to make after picking young England squad September 2, 2019 It will come as no surprise to see that Gareth Southgate’s latest England squad contains some fresh and exciting faces and the emphasis firmly fixed on youth. During his tenure in charge of the Three Lions he has never shied away from selecting youngsters and in his latest squad a number of the country’s best [...]
Arsenal 2-2 Tottenham: Honours even as Eriksen shines in frenetic north London derby September 1, 2019 This was a result that both teams would probably have taken beforehand but truly satisfied no one – except perhaps the neutrals, who were treated to an early contender for most breathless, frenetic and combustible Premier League match of the season. Arsenal would have settled for a point and improvements in all departments on last [...]