Stories By Graham Ruthven
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Sport
McKenna staying at Ipswich would be good news for his development
Kieran McKenna might have anticipated some time to rest and recuperate after guiding Ipswich Town to the Premier League. Instead, the 38-year-old has been the subject of intense speculation about his future with Brighton, Chelsea and Manchester United believed to be particularly keen in the Tractor Boys boss.
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Sport
Leverkusen are on the brink of European glory.
Bayer Leverkusen are just two wins away from something most would have thought impossible before the start of the season. With victory over Atalanta in Wednesday’s Europa League final and Kaiserslautern in Saturday’s DFB Pokal final, Xabi Alonso’s team will complete an unbeaten campaign in all competitions.
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Sport
Ten Hag has only added to the problems at ‘United’.
Eight years ago, Manchester United were in a similar position to the one they find themselves in now. While they were preparing for an FA Cup final, the season as a whole had been disappointing. United had fallen out of the top four and cup glory wasn’t enough for Louis van Gaal to keep his job.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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