Brazilian’s blunders have met with much mockery but he has been one of the Premier League’s most influential defendersEver since he first arrived at Chelsea, bursting on to the scene like a labrador puppy at a family gathering unsure of whose face to lick, whose leg to gnaw, which plate of sausage rolls to attack first, David Luiz has had a reputation in England for going walkabout.David Luiz makes the wrong move. David Luiz is in the wrong place. David Luiz appears to be fundamentally confused, head out, chest puffed, galloping off towards the wrong part of the world entirely. In this context it seems inevitable, a matter of destiny, that David Luiz should have found his way to the...
West Ham have the talent to cause Manchester City problems on opening weekend while David de Gea has a point to proveWhile there is plenty of excitement to be drawn from Liverpool’s much-lauded front three, a good argument could be made that the two most thrilling players in Jürgen Klopp’s side are defenders. Technically, anyway. In reality, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson spent last season making a mockery of their job descriptions, zooming forward with exuberant abandon and each laying on more goals than any of the side’s so-called attackers. Meanwhile, down in the Championship, a similar operation was in progress. Norwich’s full-back duo, Jamal Lewis and Max Aarons, are under strict instructions from Daniel Farke to play with the...
The situation at Real Madrid is baffling and does no credit to Bale or Zinedine Zidane, while Neymar and Laurent Koscielny have not enhanced their reputations this summer eitherIt has been a transfer window full of the usual long-running sagas and occasional surprises, but it does seem to have been a bad-tempered few months, with more than the usual number of players – as well as the occasional manager – trying to force moves in the most public and spiteful style. Related: Transfer deadline day live! Sessegnon, Sarr, Zaha, Lukaku, Carroll latest news Related: Transfer window 2019 – every summer deal from Europe's top five leagues Nouveau joueur, nouveau maillot, retrouvez-le dès maintenant ici https://t.co/6Jb2BRKbIo pic.twitter.com/eCfsGaSUYS Continue reading...
It’s that time of the year when clubs bring out their strips for the coming season, so which ones do we look back on fondly?There’s history behind this one. It was the first ever fluorescent outfield shirt (according to Umbro, at least) and kicked off a trend that has never really gone away (no surprise given it was said at the time that it was the best selling shirt, other than England kits, that Umbro had ever produced). But more importantly, to me at least, it was a) the first away shirt I ever owned and b) the shirt Sheffield United wore as they stormed to promotion to the old First Division in 1990, which was achieved via a 5-2...
Botched launches of Arsenal’s kit and Nike’s trainer exposes halfwitted naivety among wizards of merchandisingDoes any profession attract a higher percentage of sweet summer children than sportswear marketing? We are encouraged to think of this most modern discipline as a sophisticated, perhaps even cutthroat world, where promotional and sales whizzes compete to be the best of the best in the battle to market various symphonies in sweat-wicking polyester and cheap leather.In which case, why does the appearance of halfwitted naivety continue to dog these 360-degree thinkers? This week alone, Adidas and Arsenal have had to shut down a social media initiative after its promise to tweet pictures of its new kit with fan Twitter handles on it saw the official...