Roberto De Zerbi has made such an impact that Brighton were never likely to lose but Grimsby deserve their admirers tooAt times during this relentlessly entertaining FA Cup quarter-final it was hard to avoid the feeling that the ambient levels of wholesomeness inside the Amex Stadium might just be reaching a potentially dangerous high, the counters starting to fizz and burp.This was an occasion so wholesome even the half-time entertainment was a deeply moving presentation from the life-saving stadium medical team, followed by a mascot race, a kids’ race and then a succession of Mother’s Day announcements so heartfelt you half-expected the match officials to come running out for the second half holding a cake and flowers. Continue reading...
Brighton’s recent progress under Roberto De Zerbi emphasises the role other factors play in a manager’s successHe’s not good enough. He’s not cut out for this level. He can’t handle the club. He’s out of his depth. It is never hard to propose simple explanations for why things have gone wrong for managers. But football is rarely simple. Everything is contingent; very little is true in itself. There is no simple explanation for Graham Potter’s struggles at Chelsea.And these are struggles, even before you consider expenditure in excess of half a billion pounds over the past year. Chelsea started the weekend as close to the relegation zone as the Champions League qualification places. They are averaging a goal a game....
Graham Potter pressure intensifies, Newcastle’s goalkeeping nightmare and civil war at LeedsStamford Bridge was not a happy place after Chelsea’s insipid defeat to Southampton. There was no holding back. Loud boos greeted the final whistle and the mood near the dugout was ugly. A fair few fans were bellowing abuse at Graham Potter and the worry for Chelsea’s head coach, who has been in the job only since September, will be that he has already lost the crowd. Chelsea supporters loved Thomas Tuchel and many do not see Potter as an upgrade on the German. There is talk of giving the Brighton manager time to build but he is not doing a good job of winning over the sceptics. Chelsea...
João Félix is settling at Chelsea, Eddie Howe is staying positive despite the draws and James Maddison is Leicester’s leading manAs if more than 100 charges weren’t enough, Manchester City were given one more reason to come out fighting on Sunday. They had just been pushed down to third in the league by their not very noisy neighbours, United, in Sunday’s earlier match. City responded as only they can, by taking the lead while their opponents were still trying to figure out their formation. Was it a 3-2-2-3? Whatever it was, it was 3-0 by half-time. Villa had been overrun, Bernardo Silva was the new João Cancelo and City were second again. By Wednesday night, if they play like the...
The Liverpool manager is left trying to build a new era while continuing to win – it is possible if he is given timeWith 11 minutes left in this FA Cup fourth-round tie and the score 1-1 Jürgen Klopp could be seen racing out to the touchline, yanking the snood from his face and performing a series of furious scything gestures with his right arm, as though trying to break free from some invisible set of manacles.Klopp shrieked. He threw his head back. Just as quickly he stopped, crouched, and mooched back towards his seat. Nothing was really happening. Klopp was reacting to the shapes in his head, seeing danger, slackness, loose stitching in Cody Gakpo’s off-the-ball positioning during a...