Sport
Seven Days in Seven Points
Is this the end of Big Sam’s England reign?
What an utter plonker. Late on Monday night videos emerged on The Telegraph, and subsequently all over social media, showing the current England boss discussing how third-party ownership rules can be side-stepped. Within minutes of the videos being released it became clear that Sam’s job was in danger and, around midday on Tuesday, Sky Sports declared that the FA was considering sacking him. At the time of writing it remains unclear whether he will continue being England boss, but my view is that he’ll go – but at least he’ll have a 100% win record.
Manchester United are a better side without Rooney
Jose Mourinho finally gave in and dropped Wayne Rooney for this weekend’s clash with Leicester, and it didn’t take long for his decision to pay off. By half-time United were 4-0 up, with Smalling, Mata, Pogba and Rashford all finding the net. Rooney did eventually come on late in the game but he made little impact, and the game was all but over by then anyway. Juan Mata, who many thought was going to be sold over the summer, was the star of the show, though record signing Pogba also put in a decent shift. Manchester United look a better side without Rooney in the team, and it seems the England captain will soon have a big decision to make with regard to his future.
Is De Bruyne the best player in the Premier League?
On current form, it’s difficult to argue against it. Perhaps only Arsenal’s Sanchez and Tottenham’s Son are going through patches of form that could rival De Bruyne’s, but the Manchester City man is arguably head and shoulders above everyone in the league when it comes to performing week in, week out. He has been fantastic for Manchester City ever since he signed, and his performances have only improved since Guardiola joined. On the basis of current displays it would appear that Manchester City will be difficult to stop this season, and De Bruyne is certainly a huge part of that.
When will we see the West Ham of last season?
It just doesn’t seem to be getting any better for Bilic and his lads. This weekend they were hammered 0-3 at home to Southampton – a result which prompted club captain Mark Noble to call his side’s defending ‘laughable’. For Hammers fans, this season’s start must be starting to get more than a little worrying. They sit third bottom, having lost five and won just one of their opening six fixtures, and are only being kept off the very bottom because of the terrible form of Stoke and Sunderland. Bilic’s squad hasn’t quite gelled since moving to the London Stadium, and that needs to change fast if the Hammers are to avoid becoming embroiled in a relegation scrap.
Mamadou Sakho’s Liverpool career looks to be over
It didn’t look likely that he was going to become Klopp’s first choice centre-back at this time last week, but fast-forward seven days and his hopes of playing in red again have pretty much entirely disappeared. On Saturday morning he posted a series of Snapchat messages hitting out at his current situation, saying ‘fans deserve to know the truth’ and that he ‘can’t accept the lie’. Klopp has subsequently branded his messages ‘not positive’ – a subtle yet very telling indication of Sakho’s status. I expect him to be sent out on loan in January, and then sold in the summer. Liverpool, quite frankly, don’t need him.
Arsenal made Chelsea look average
Arsenal’s 3-0 victory over Chelsea did not look like a clash between two sides hoping to challenge for the title. The Blues, who started the campaign well, were taken to the cleaners by the Gunners at the weekend; they simply had no answer to the pace, dynamism and intelligence of Ozil, Sanchez and, to a lesser extent, a rejuvenated Theo Walcott. Chelsea currently sit eighth while Arsenal are in third, just behind local rivals Tottenham, and on current form you’d have to think Arsenal are far better placed to challenge for honours this season than Conte’s men.
The worst goalkeeping performance ever
Is just doesn’t get worse than this, does it? This is the moment North Korea u16 goalkeeper Jang Paek Ho made two calamitous errors on the way to his side conceding a shocking goal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxLVjhpPb2g
