Some got roughed up by Gary Neville, others had an obsession with Twitter, but from Michael Ricketts to Oumar Niasse, these players all have a dismal January transfer in commonAt 11.30pm on the first ever January transfer deadline day, Middlesbrough sealed the signing of the striker who was intended to revolutionise their team. “I was stuck in a rut at Bolton, training was the same all the time, things weren’t going the way I planned,” he revealed. “Hopefully that’s going to change here.” It didn’t change there: at the end of the following season, 18 months, 12 league starts and three goals after his arrival, he left for Leeds on a free transfer. Related: Premier League’s fear of the drop...
Leicester hope to party like it’s 1963, Liverpool must find a way to stop Joe Allen scoring and it is eight years since Phil Brown’s infamous Hull City team talkEvery year for more than half a century folks have been hoping for a repeat of the Boxing Day fun of 1963, when the 10 top-flight fixtures produced a record tally of 66 goals. We can’t get an exact repeat of that this year because half of the teams who were in the First Division back then are now in the lower leagues (although, as it happens, Ipswich and Fulham are meeting in the Championship this Boxing Day so Mick McCarthy could point to progress if his team do better than...
With talk of Mesut Özil demanding a huge new contract, his pale performance in Arsenal’s defeat at City will have Arsène Wenger wondering if he is worth itThere was an interesting moment at the end of Arsenal’s defeat at Manchester City on Sunday, a match of shifting tides, foggy passages, moments of extreme skill and one decisive tactical switch by Pep Guardiola. Deep into stoppage time, as Petr Cech and the nearest team‑mate dithered over a free-kick by the halfway line Arsène Wenger could be seen leaping up and urging them to get the ball forward, waggling his arms about in that familiar, slightly alarming angry‑pterodactyl style.Eventually the ball did go forward, just as the final whistle was blown. Wenger...
Claude Puel’s rotation proves a winner, opportunity finally knocks for Michy Batshuayi, and Mesut Özil’s invisibility at City should worry Arsène Wenger Related: The Dozen: the weekend's best Premier League photos Related: Premier League 2015-16 fans’ verdicts part one: Arsenal to Manchester United Related: Premier League fans’ half-time verdict part 2: Manchester United to West Ham Continue reading...
Manchester City’s playmaker dovetailed beautifully with Kevin De Bruyne to wrestle control of the Premier League match with Arsenal for a 2-1 victoryMuch has been made of the fact that this Pep‑project Manchester City is a work in progress, a mutable thing, still looking to find its rhythms and shapes. At the Etihad Stadium, for 20 minutes either side of half-time, City seemed to be evolving at an irradiated speed as first David Silva and then Kevin De Bruyne dug their fingernails into this game and wrenched it their way.Until that point Alexis Sánchez had been the outstanding figure on show. So keen right now to assert his own market value, Sánchez had whirled and sprinted at Manchester City’s defence in...