Stories By Graham Ruthven
-
Sport
Saliba is now the Premier League’s dominant centre back
There couldn’t have been a greater contrast between the performances of Manchester United and Arsenal’s centre backs at Old Trafford on Sunday. While Casemiro produced another performance to suggest his days at football’s elite level are over, William Saliba was a brick wall as the Gunners kept it tight at the back in a 1-0 victory.
-
Sport
Chelsea are finally heading in the right direction.
Chelsea finished in the bottom half of the Premier League table last season and for much of this season it appeared unlikely they would improve on that by much, if at all. As recently as early March, Mauricio Pochettino’s team was slumped in 11th place with the Argentine under pressure from his own fans.
-
Sport
McKenna will have a higher platform than ever before, next season.
When Kieran McKenna was appointed Ipswich Town manager in December 2021, The Tractor Boys were in a bad way. They were slumped in 12th place in the third tier of English football with no sign of improvement coming any time soon.
-
Sport
Iraola deserves to be in the Manager of the Year discussion
Initially, Bournemouth’s decision to sack Gary O’Neill in favour of Andoni Iraola last summer looked a foolish one. While O’Neill started well as Wolves’ new manager, the Cherries had to wait until their 10th fixture of the season to register a win in the Premier League.
-
Sport
Ten Hag is deluded if he believes his comments on Man Utd
Erik ten Hag hasn’t been short of interesting things to say recently. Under pressure as Manchester United’s season has fallen apart, the Dutchman has cut an increasingly desperate figure with some of his comments.
-
Sport
Crystal Palace are heading in the right direction under Oliver Glasner
It’s too late for Crystal Palace to achieve anything meaningful beyond Premier League survival this season, but the signs are that the Eagles are preparing for an extremely positive 2024/25 campaign.
-
Sport
Chelsea should now follow Arsenal’s example
Midway through last month’s Premier League match away to Brentford, the sentiment against Mauricio Pochettino turned amongst the Chelsea support. En masse, the Blues’ supporters chanted in a way that made clear in no uncertain terms their desire to see the Argentinean leave Stamford Bridge sooner rather than later.
-
Sport
Gvardiol is finally finding his feet as Man City’s next level defender
Nobody expected Josko Gvardiol to find the far corner of the net when he received a pass from Jack Grealish on the edge of the box against Real Madrid last week. Had it not been for a somewhat loose first touch, the Croatian might not have got his strike away, but Gvardiol’s finish was one of the standout moments of a thrilling Champions League quarter-final first leg.
-
Sport
Is Xavi right to depart the talented new generation at Barcelona?
Barcelona’s Champions League quarter-final win away to Paris Saint-Germain last week offered a microcosm of the Catalans’ season as a whole to date. Their defensive flaws were exposed at times by Kylian Mbappe and co.
-
Sport
Xabi Alonso has shaped Leverkusen into the perfect modern team.
Xabi Alonso’s decision to stay at Bayer Leverkusen caught many by surprise. The Spaniard had been strongly linked with both Bayern Munich and Liverpool. Widely seen as the best young manager working in European football right now, most expected Alonso to take the next step in his career this summer.
-
Sport
Bellingham has become a driving force for Real Madrid.
Manchester City thumped Real Madrid in last season’s Champions League semi-finals. Indeed, Pep Guardiola’s team claimed a 5-1 aggregate win over the Spanish giants on their way to being crowned European champions for the first time.
Loading...
End of content
No more pages to load
