Stories By Harry De Cosemo

• Sport

  Lampard proves it’s who you know, not what you know

  It is often said that, as a manager, your career is directly linked to your reputation. Sometimes perception, rather than results and concrete performances, are taken into account. Supporters and the media are the unofficial jury which boardrooms often pay attention to when deciding on the future of their dugout.

• Sport

  Atletico Madrid heading into uncharted waters as La Liga favourites

  Diego Godin rose highest at Camp Nou, and competed the fairytale. Perhaps it says more about the landscape of Spanish football than the true extent of Atletico Madrid and their role of plucky underdogs, but the Uruguayan defender’s equaliser against Barcelona in May 2014 was a moment to remember your surroundings.

• Sport

  Criticism of Marcelo Bielsa is sheer arrogance

  Just 14 games, that is all it took. The Premier League season isn’t even at the half way mark and murmurs of doubt are beginning to sound. Marcelo Bielsa and Leeds United were beaten 6-2 by Manchester United on Sunday afternoon; it was the first time they had crossed to Pennines and headed to Old Trafford for a league match in 16 years, and the result was not what anyone connected with the club was hoping for.

• Sport

  Bruce and Newcastle offering little to cheer supporters

  Try as he might, Newcastle manager Steve Bruce can’t ignore the evidence; it was right in front of him on Wednesday night. At Elland Road, Newcastle United were taught a harsh lesson. Watching their passive, reactive, hopeful approach over the previous 12 games of the campaign which, admittedly, yielded a greater points total than expected, supporters feared a collision with Marcelo Bielsa’s Duracell-charged side.

• Sport

  Arsenal demise leaves fans nostalgic for Wenger years

  It is tempting to patronise Arsenal fans in the wake of their 1-0 defeat at home to Burnley on Sunday evening, but history shouldn’t be rewritten. Arsene Wenger was the name on the fingertips of many Arsenal supporters, though, in the immediate aftermath, as they furiously constructed a 280-character thought on Twitter, opining that Gunners supporters were wrong to want his 22-year reign to come to and end now that Mikel Arteta’s struggles are becoming much worse than anything he faced in comparison.

• Sport

  Spurs and Mourinho taking the next step together

  Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs exit in November last year was tough to take for both supporters and neutrals, especially given the immediate appointment of the unpopular Jose Mourinho. It was a fraught end to the club’s most successful modern era — even though the Argentine didn’t lift a trophy, the style, quality and competitiveness he instilled in North London surpassed anything seen since the 1960s.

• Sport

  United need to cut ties with Pogba and his agent

  Manchester United’s plight over the last seven years can be characterised in a number of different ways, the most obvious being the lack of Premier League titles in that time. Their relationship with Paul Pogba, and the numerous complexities that come with it, is another.

• Sport

  Real Madrid and Florentino Perez repeating old mistakes

  At the end of the 2005/06 season, Real Madrid knew they had to rip up the manual and start again, it had been a humbling season all round and ended with Florentino Perez resigning as president. Arsenal had knocked them out of the Champions League and Barcelona had stormed to the La Liga title after Ronaldinho received a standing ovation from the Santiago Bernabeu crowd, having scored a brace in a 3-0 El Clasico victory.

• Sport

  Premier League concussion debate is now urgent

  The Emirates Stadium was hollow and empty, so the noise was amplified. It was awful, haunting and will stick with those who heard it for a very long time. Without supporters, there may have been fewer witnesses to a rather disturbing incident but, as Wolves striker Raul Jimenez and Arsenal defender David Luiz clashed heads on Sunday evening, all the emotions present in their team-mates and club staff were reflected by the millions watching from their homes.

• Sport

  Remember Maradona for his genius, not his flaws, after his death

  It was one of those ‘where were you?’ moments. The kind that, for much of recent history, has been reserved for the passing of royalty, either literal or from the worlds of arts or music. The death of Diego Maradona at the age of 60 was confirmed on Wednesday evening and certainly reverberated around the planet in a similar way to Michael Jackson’s or Freddie Mercury’s because, in truth, he was a rockstar in a pair of football boots.

• Sport

  Mourinho revival proves Guardiola shouldn’t be written off

  English football has never seen the sharpest edge to the intense rivalry between Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola up close. When the pair took over the clubs on either side of Manchester in the summer of 2016, the media was sent into a frenzy at the prospect of the bitterness, which defined their shared experience in La Liga at Real Madrid and Barcelona, reigniting in much closer quarters in the same city.

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