Watching Arsenal’s manager watch the goalless first leg of a cup semi-final was more interesting than watching the goalless first leg of a league cup semi-finalOf all the indignities foisted on Arsène Wenger during his time in English football, this was perhaps a fresh level of zip-fumbling, hood-gnawing horror. At the end of a room‑temperature semi-final Wenger said he had quite enjoyed his 90 minutes in the Stamford Bridge press box. “You see, you’re well treated, you have nothing to complain about,” he told the gathered journalists, expertly seizing the opportunity to chastise, once again, the people he most enjoys chastising.VAR issues aside – the image of Martin Atkinson fiddling with his ear will live long in the memory –...
Mark Robins’ eye-catching Coventry deserve their headlines, Liverpool have a bargain in Andrew Robertson and Wolves are already good enough for top flightAmid all the hoopla over the departing Mark Hughes, it is right to take a moment to praise Coventry City. They were deserved winners of the third-round tie at the Ricoh Arena, despite giving up the greater number of chances to the visitors. The Sky Blues played with a determination and energy you might expect of a team assuming the David role in a Goliath encounter. But they were also calm on the ball and often quite cute on it, too. Their play was all the more striking, given the starting XI had an average age of 24...
Everton’s loss can be England’s gain in a World Cup year if Antonio Conte can do the trick for a real confidence playerThere was a time, going back a few years, when Everton envisaged Ross Barkley being a different kind of player to the one we see now. Ask David Moyes and he will tell you that at 15 Barkley was the closest he had ever seen to a young Norman Whiteside. Barkley could get up and down the pitch, he had the same kind of rare quality that saw Whiteside bend the ball past Neville Southall in the 1985 FA Cup final and, more than anything, he was utterly fearless in the tackle. Moyes and the youth-team coaches would...
The Gunners manager’s fatal attraction to playing at all costs leaves defence as an afterthought – as highlighted in the 2-2 draw with ChelseaStoppage time provided a vignette of classic latter-Wenger Arsenal. Hearts were in mouths, and nobody knew whether to celebrate or panic or faint. Having taken a lead, then thrown a lead, and then seized back some pride with a last gasp equaliser, Arsenal’s defence evaporated completely as Chelsea almost won it all over again. “Never a dull moment,” muttered one fan to his mate as they shuffled out the stadium having witnessed another night of strangely confusing excitement against a top opponent. Arsène Wenger recently said, albeit tongue in cheek, that he would prefer to play with...
The Chelsea playmaker is back in the thoughts of Antonio Conte and making the most of the situationFor the opening 55 minutes at the Emirates this was a bitty, fun, meandering game, an odd mix of sublime moments of skill, bruising collisions and clodhopping errors. From a Chelsea point of view there will be major regrets that a period of first-half dominance wasn’t converted into goals. Above all Antonio Conte will be frustrated that a performance of sublime playmaking on the left of midfield from Cesc Fàbregas wasn’t rewarded with greater incision in front of goal.Fàbregas didn’t just pass the ball better than anyone else, he did so with a style and grace that came from a different place altogether....