Barcelona v Manchester United: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer focuses on recent exploits rather than club’s past glories to motivate players April 15, 2019 The comparison is almost too obvious, but certainly unavoidable. Twenty years on, the same club return to the same stadium and the same man is at the heart of it again. Manchester United revisit Camp Nou tomorrow for their Champions League quarter-final second leg against Barcelona 1-0 down and needing a turnaround akin to the [...]
Liverpool 2-0 Chelsea: No slip-ups as Mane and Salah blitz leads Reds back to the Premier League’s summit April 14, 2019 No slip-ups this time. The build-up to the match was dominated by what happened five years ago, but Andy Robertson briefly losing his footing was the closest Liverpool came to a repeat of their infamous meeting with Chelsea which shaped the 2014 Premier League title race. Instead of an unfortunate mistake defining their season, it [...]
Crystal Palace 1-3 Manchester City: Sterling clinches vital win as Guardiola’s rotation pays off at Selhurst Park April 14, 2019 Relentless. That’s the word that best describes Manchester City’s pursuit of the Premier League title and their performance against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. Their Champions League hopes – and therefore those of completing a quadruple – may look slightly precarious after a 1-0 quarter-final first-leg defeat by Tottenham, but judging by this display their [...]
Liverpool will face the ghosts of their 2014 Premier League title bid slip up against Chelsea April 11, 2019 It was this very fixture in April five years ago that saw one of the cruellest twists in English football history. Steven Gerrard’s rallying cry to team-mates just a few days earlier that “this does not slip” played out with the captain losing his footing and allowing Chelsea a decisive goal that would cost Liverpool [...]
Tottenham 1-0 Manchester City: Helped by home atmosphere Spurs stand up to City and overcome VAR drama April 9, 2019 Rarely has a team ever settled into a new home as quickly as Tottenham have at their new stadium. It was just the second time in Spurs’ history that they had made the quarter-finals of the Champions League and the fans gave Mauricio Pochettino everything he had asked for. “We hope the atmosphere is going [...]
Manchester United ready to roll with the times and hire a technical director as post-Ferguson transition nears completion April 9, 2019 It has taken nearly six years, but Manchester United's transition through the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era is almost complete. The decision to hand Ole Gunnar Solskjaer a three-year contract last week after an unexpectedly excellent trial period is the latest symptom of a change in approach from the United hierarchy. The appointment of a young, [...]
Trevor Steven: Transfer talk has hit Manchester United’s form ahead of Barcelona Champions League clash April 9, 2019 After an initial burst of adrenaline and positivity brought about by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer replacing Jose Mourinho in the dugout, it feels as though Manchester United have gone backwards lately. A run of three defeats in four games since their heroics against Paris Saint-Germain, including losing twice to Wolves, has punctured the belief that Solskjaer [...]
Tottenham v Manchester City: Quadruple talk masks the fact that only Champions League glory will do for City April 8, 2019 Is it possible to enjoy resounding success, to set new standards of achievement not just for your club but for the very competitions in which they play and yet still leave a nagging sense of hopes unfulfilled? It’s a question Bayern Munich must have wrestled with in the last days of Pep Guardiola’s tenure as [...]
Five things we learned from the weekend football: Gutsy Watford rip up the script; Everton turning a corner; Arsenal wretched on road; Liverpool bust a gut while Man City cruise; Foxes have tails up April 7, 2019 On paper, this looked like the less appetising of the two FA Cup semi-finals. On paper, Watford looked like underdogs against a Wolves side who were in the ascendancy and possess star quality. But on Sunday at Wembley, Watford – and particularly Gerard Deulofeu – ripped up the script and dragged the Hornets from two [...]
Southampton v Liverpool: Red rock Virgil van Dijk returns to his former club the finished article April 4, 2019 When Virgil’ van Dijk returns to St Mary’s Stadium tomorrow evening he will be braced for a frosty reception. The Dutch defender left Southampton for Liverpool in January 2018 under a cloud after a drawn-out and bitter tug of war created friction between the two clubs and alienated Saints fans. The world record fee for a [...]