The stifling orthodoxy that N’Golo Kanté is the top flight’s most important player ignores the bravery and skill of Chelsea’s Belgian playmaker alongside himThere are some things in sport that you’re just not allowed to say, lines that must not be crossed. For a long time it was more or less impossible to say in public that you thought Paul Scholes was simply a very good footballer, as opposed to a chasteningly complete distillation of perfection and a one-man anti-glam debunking of the Premier League star system. You might think this. But saying it out loud is still technically an offence under the Scholes Act 2009, punishable by being stabbed in the eye with a skewer by the Queen.The same...
Faced with the club missing out on Champions League football again, Manchester United’s manager makes the point that it is harder to buy successDoes José Mourinho have a point about power being divided in the Premier League, or is the manager of Manchester United simply trying to get his excuses in early?United still have a job on their hands to crack the top four this season, let alone get back to winning titles, and should a third season in four arrive without achieving Champions League football questions are going to be asked about the effectiveness of his stewardship in the light of all the money spent. Perhaps in anticipation of that scenario, Mourinho has just observed that winning anything in...
Everton and Romelu Lukaku get to shift their attention to the pitch, Liverpool face off with Manchester City, and Spurs look to push on without Harry KaneEverton-owned strikers will provide two causes for regret at Goodison Park on Saturday. Hull City miss Oumar Niasse, the on-loan centre-forward whose goals against Swansea City last week have made escaping the drop a realistic proposition, as he is ineligible to face the club that froze him out within months of arriving from Lokomotiv Moscow. That is poor timing as Marco Silva looks to create some momentum but Everton have concerns of their own. Romelu Lukaku and his family are hardly known for reticence but his clearly voiced concerns about the club’s ambition, hot...
Gruelling festive fixture lists may not be good preparation for playing Champions League football in February but Tottenham were already out by ChristmasEnglish football may be about to plunge into one of its regular periods of introspection now that Leicester City are left as the only standard-bearers for the Premier League in the Champions League quarter-finals, though the rest of Europe will not find anything too surprising in this week’s developments. Related: Monaco’s Tiemoué Bakayoko condemns Manchester City to away-goal defeat Related: Arsène Wenger has been living on borrowed time at Arsenal for too long | Richard Williams Continue reading...
The Manchester United manager took a leaf from one of Sir Alex Ferguson’s old books but Ander Herrera’s red card changed the game and there are signs Antonio Conte has plans to counteract a back-six strategyThe problem with facing Antonio Conte’s Chelsea, as so many Premier League managers have discovered this season, is that their front three becomes a front five. In Monday night’s FA Cup tie at Stamford Bridge, José Mourinho responded by effectively deploying a back six.Chelsea have overloaded the opposition frequently this season thanks to Eden Hazard and Pedro (or, in this case, Willian) drifting inside to positions close to Diego Costa, allowing Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses to push forward aggressively down the outside. Opponents are...