Stories By Graham Ruthven

• Sport

  John Stones revival should inspire Maguire and England

  Until recently, England were lacking an elite level central defender ahead of this summer’s European Championships. While Gareth Southgate had numerous world class options in attack and through the midfield, this wasn’t the case at the back.

• Sport

  Can Rangers add European glory to their Scottish Premiership title?

  Seven points is all Rangers need to clinch their first Scottish Premiership title in a decade. Of course, it has been in the bag for the Ibrox outfit for some time such is the lead they have enjoyed over rivals Celtic for months, but the sight of the trophy in Steven Gerrard’s hands will be symbolic of how far he has taken the club.

• Sport

  Brendan Rodgers is the perfect manager for Tottenham

  Having watched Tottenham suffer a damaging defeat to rivals West Ham on Sunday, Daniel Levy surely started to think of a way to wake up from from his increasingly deep Jose Mourinho nightmare. Within a few hours, the Spurs chairman was presented with a splash of cold water to the face.

• Sport

  Traore? Pedro Neto is the Wolves winger set for the top

  As wingers go, Adam Traore is about as fascinating as they come. The Spaniard’s astonishing physicality, as well as his natural gift for dribbling past opponents as if they weren’t even there, marks him out from the rest.

• Sport

  Why are Premier League goalkeepers making more errors?

  Something has happened to the stats of the biggest goalkeepers in the Premier League this season. While England’s top flight was once renowned for the number of world class shot-stoppers it boasted, now high profile blunders from the men between the sticks has become commonplace.

• Sport

  Luke Shaw finally realising lofty potential

  As recently as transfer deadline day back in October, the writing appeared to be on the wall for the Manchester United career of Luke Shaw. Prompted to enter the market for a new left back by the inconsistencies in the 25-year-old’s game, as well as his patchy fitness record, Alex Telles was signed from Porto, hinting at Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s eagerness to solve a problem area.

• Sport

  Klopp excuses wearing thin after defeat to City

  Cold feet. That’s what Jurgen Klopp said might have caused Alisson Becker to gift Manchester City two goals in Sunday’s damaging Premier League defeat for Liverpool. “It sounds funny but could be,” the German coach added, blurring the line between what may have been a throwaway wisecrack or a sincere excuse.

• Sport

  Scale of financial trouble at Barcelona revealed by Messi contract leak

  No other context was required. The number was the headline as the front page of Sunday’s edition of Spanish newspaper El Mundo revealed the true worth of the contract which Barcelona have been paying Lionel Messi – €555,237,619.

• Sport

  Mo Salah is quietly scoring loads of Premier League goals

  Not since 2005 had Liverpool gone four Premier League games without finding the back of the net. While the Reds’ defence had been decimated by injuries, it was their attack letting them down as they suffered defeats to Burnley and Southampton and dropped points to Manchester United and Newcastle United.

• Sport

  Klopp facing Trent Alexander-Arnold dilemma

  In these Covid-19 times the silence at Premier League stadiums reveals a lot. This includes just how unhappy Jurgen Klopp was with Trent Alexander-Arnold in the first half of Liverpool’s goalless home draw to Manchester United, with the German lambasting the England international over his poor positioning.

• Sport

  Which England midfielders could play in Euro 2020?

  Gareth Southgate had little choice but to adopt a counter-attacking style for the 2018 World Cup. England just didn’t have the players to control a game against the strongest opponents and this was exposed in the semi-final defeat to Croatia when the Three Lions had their roar muffled by the masterful Luka Modric.

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