Two of the Premier League’s most tactically astute managers each had spells of superiority but Manchester City and Liverpool had to settle for a drawIn a season featuring the best managerial lineup in Premier League history this felt like the type of match we were promised. Two high‑tempo, dynamic sides with different attacking philosophies produced an enthralling end-to-end contest featuring mesmeric passing moves, incredible bursts of pace – and some quite dreadful misses. Related: Sergio Agüero pegs back Liverpool to rescue point for Manchester City Related: Pep Guardiola: Manchester City draw with Liverpool ‘one of my happiest days’ Continue reading...
Champions League exit leaves City and manager vulnerable to danger of missing another target when facing Guardiola’s old foe Jürgen KloppJosé Mourinho is of the opinion that the five teams above Manchester United in the table are going to have it easier than his own for the rest of the season now that every single one is out of Europe. He might have a point yet, in the short term at least, Manchester City can still go two ways.Pep Guardiola’s side would not be the first English club to suffer a hangover on the domestic front on the back of a major disappointment in Europe and few English clubs have invested as much as Manchester City in becoming established in the...
The Liverpool manager faces another unwanted summer of trying to entice leading targets without the Champions League unless his team’s form picks up, starting at home to ArsenalLiverpool did not miss the opportunity this week to highlight the fact that their latest set of record-breaking accounts – in terms of their £301.8m revenue, not their £19.8 loss – came in a year when they were the only club in Deloitte’s top 10 rich list without Champions League football. As an illustration of Liverpool’s continued global and commercial appeal, it was a justifiable boast. As a reflection of Jürgen Klopp’s fortunes, it will mark an alarming deterioration should it reappear in the financial results for 2017-18. The prospect is growing.Klopp conceded...
The German is trusted to return past glories to Anfield but cracks are showing before the visit of Arsenal, whose fans’ quest for managerial change recursIf Claudio Ranieri’s dream died when he was sacked before the end of the season, it has taken less than a week for a nightmare to move into its place. Somewhere in Rome the former Leicester manager has probably been waking up screaming at the indignities he has suffered over the past few days.Based on results, the boot ought to have been expected, for dreams of longevity are not permissible for teams near the bottom of the Premier League who are scoring no goals and picking up no points. Leicester’s recovery once he had left...
Manager’s logic questioned as he takes his rock-bottom side to America’s freezing east coast and suggests it will make their home city ‘feel like Dubai’How are you rewarded for failing at work? The question is pertinent in the week David Moyes took his Sunderland squad to New York for a mid-season break – yes, the same Sunderland whose 4-0 thumping by Southampton at the Stadium of Light on Saturday left them rooted to the bottom of the Premier League. Bad at football but now off for a bit of sightseeing in one of the world’s most iconic cities, which may well include a visit to Trump Tower. Make America Great Again? Moyes could do with making his team adequate for...