Harry Kane is out of sorts, Joe Hart soars before being floored, and Stoke must choose between youth and experience up frontWhile Southampton will take something from getting this far in the world’s most celebrated domestic cup competition there are other, more pressing priorities, such as making a late dash for safety in the Premier League. Can they take any hope from their performance? Not from the first half. Olivier Giroud’s goal at the beginning of the second period forced Mark Hughes to change things, however, and it was to his team’s benefit. A 3-5-2 became a 3-4-3 and suddenly Charlie Austin was getting service. Southampton will feel they could and should have had an equaliser before Chelsea settled the...
The Chelsea striker maintained his knack for scoring eye-catching goals and winning at the national stadium in the FA Cup semi-final victory over SouthamptonMind transfer, that seemed the best explanation. In the moment Olivier Giroud cracked open this FA Cup semi-final for Chelsea, he must have temporarily swapped brains with Eden Hazard.That would explain how the 6ft 3in Frenchman was able to dance through a compact Southampton defence like a man a whole foot shorter; first inside then outside, keeping his balance after being tripped, before adjusting his feet to poke the ball into the goal. As soon as the net rippled, the brains must also have switched back, allowing Giroud to celebrate in the chest-out, peacocking fashion he has...
José Mourinho needs to make drastic changes, Rafael Benítez is getting best out of his players and Jordan Ayew is on a missionHaving so meekly allowed Manchester City to claim the Premier League title, a process of rebuilding Manchester United into future champions starts now. The non-inclusion of Marouane Fellaini, Daley Blind, Matteo Darmian and Luke Shaw in José Mourinho’s match‑day 18 for this game at Old Trafford indicated where a long-awaited clear-out of David Moyes and Louis van Gaal recruits is likely to begin. But it will take more than that to revitalise United. The shapeless sludge of this performance against West Brom was no anomaly. Chief among the reasons United have been left in City’s wake is Mourinho’s...
From the 1960 final to the miracle of Istanbul, Europe’s top club competition has provided many moments to rival the drama of Real Madrid’s quarter-final against JuventusThe almost shocking conclusion to what had been a notable Juventus recovery against Real Madrid at the Bernabéu has not only divided opinion – it was a penalty all day long, one could only admire the stealth with which Medhi Benatia administered his shove in the back of Lucas Vázquez and the bravery of Michael Oliver for punishing it – but has also inspired much talk of the evening being one of the most dramatic in the history of the European Cup and Champions League. However the latter stages of the competition have frequently...
At Chelsea on Sunday, as at many other clubs over the weekend, it was all about Ray Wilkins. But in the background it was hard to avoid the feeling of change and uncertainty to comeFarewell, then, to all that. A rainy Sunday on the Fulham Road, a humdrum April draw and the embers of another fading champion Chelsea team: by the end this felt like a fitting time to say goodbye to one of the most genial Stamford Bridge regulars, and indeed one of the more popular figures of the last 50 years in English football.There is a fair chance that Ray Wilkins would have been here to witness this 1-1 draw, a game that sparked in the middle and ended with...