The prolific form of Chris Wood, the New Zealand centre-forward, could finally see Leeds United return to the Premier League after years of frustrationThere is still a temptation to think every day Leeds United spend outside the top flight is another day of underachievement. The club’s past as one of English football’s great powers still tricks you into the idea that their current status as Championship promotion contenders is the least you can expect.In reality Leeds are overachieving this season. Last summer Garry Monk took over a side with a few decent players but a recent history of mediocrity: this is a team who have finished between 13th and 15th in each of the past five dispiriting seasons and, quite...
The county’s fortunes have waned but Garry Monk, Carlos Carvalhal and David Wagner are overseeing promotion challenges with three sleeping giantsIt did not take Garry Monk long to start second-guessing the inevitable question. Why on earth did the former Swansea City manager want to risk his career at Leeds United, a chaotically run, fallen giant emblematic of Yorkshire’s footballing rust belt?As if working for Massimo Cellino, Leeds’ eccentric owner, was not bad enough, had Monk not read Gary Neville’s analysis of the national game’s changing topography? “The north is being cut adrift in English football and I fear the damage may be permanent,” wrote the former Manchester United captain turned pundit last year. Continue reading...
Bona-fide giantkilling seems to be a thing of the past, with bigger teams, Liverpool and Leeds last time out, often making multiple changes and all-but encouraging the smaller ones to put them out of their miseryWho needs a winter break when the FA Cup makes a perfectly good substitute? Everton are sunning themselves in Dubai, Liverpool re-enacting a pre-season (Jürgen Klopp’s words) at La Manga, while Sunderland have been testing their supporters’ patience by flying to New York for a team-bonding session.All of these jollies and a few more were made possible by early exits from the FA Cup. Given that other teams might suffer should Liverpool come back with batteries charged and deliver on their promise to win every...
Liverpool’s defence needs to find cohesion fast, Lincoln felt the force with Alan Power and Bastian Schweinsteiger is welcomed back by José MourinhoIt was an afternoon when the ball would not go in for Ruben Loftus-Cheek. The Chelsea attacking midfielder was twice denied by the Brentford goalkeeper, Daniel Bentley, and, when he clipped over him on 58 minutes, the effort came back off the crossbar. Loftus-Cheek had two other moments when he jinked inside the area but could not find a finish. It was, nonetheless, an eye-catching performance from the 21-year-old – in front of the watching England manager, Gareth Southgate – in which he advertised both his power and the deftness of his touch. Could it offer him a...
Will Daniel Sturridge get a chance to regain his verve? Will Ranieri fine-tune for a relegation battle? Will Ravel Morrison return to Old Trafford?A clutch of (fool)hardy Lincoln City fans queued through Wednesday night in sub-zero temperatures in order to get their gloved hands on the last tickets for their club’s biggest and indeed only fourth-round FA Cup tie since 1976. Those fans were evidently not discouraged by the fact that the National League leaders had suffered their heaviest defeat of the season the previous night, when they were beaten 3-0 by Barrow, whose rugged approach on a treacherous pitch fairly knocked Danny Cowley’s men out of their impish stride. The Championship leaders, Brighton, will probably not resort to such...