Chelsea and Liverpool spent big on the ‘final piece of the puzzle’ – and each player has proved such signings are vanishingly rare“How have we managed to sign this guy?” There is something a little vague and apocryphal about the oft-quoted reaction of one unnamed Celtic player to seeing Virgil van Dijk in training on his first day at the club.Van Dijk was 22 at the time and a late bloomer, rejected as a teenager by Willem II (“too many limitations”), and more recently by Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord, with two decent seasons at Groningen to recommend him. Continue reading...
João Cancelo continues to shine, Dele Alli shows his worth and Blackburn are looking upJürgen Klopp spent much of the pulsating 2-2 draw with Tottenham frothing with rage at some of the refereeing decisions and his anger was more than justified. We all have bad days at the office, but certain elements of Paul Tierney’s display were inexplicably poor. Diogo Jota was denied a blindingly obvious penalty in the first half, before Harry Kane escaped with a yellow card for a potentially career-ending tackle on Andy Robertson. Robertson was smart enough to jump, without which the damage would have been severe. “That’s definitely a red card ... if Robbo’s leg is on the ground, it’s a broken leg,” Klopp correctly...
In their anarchic draw with Liverpool, Spurs looked like a team shifting gear and becoming an obstacle for opponents againWho are you exactly? And what have you done with Tottenham Hotspur? At the end of a week menaced by illness, schedule horror and lurking event anxiety, something unexpected happened in north London, as the players of Spurs and Liverpool dished up a glorious, ragged, startlingly carefree game of football.Both teams might have scored four or five, or none at all, although in the end a 2-2 draw felt fair enough. Both managers had complained in advance about a lack of planning time. Antonio Conte was forced to train with a set of static mannequins, a state of affairs that presents...
The redraw of the Champions League last 16 was kind to the Premier League clubs and the quartet should progressBayern, as ever, have been dominant in the Bundesliga and they romped through the group stage winning six out of six, scoring 22 and conceding only three. Under Julian Nagelsmann they play with as high a line as they did under Hansi Flick, and Robert Lewandowski remains as prolific as ever. If there are doubts, they are only over two things: Bayern’s squad is not as deep as those of many of their rivals, making them susceptible to injuries, and top-class sides may be able to exploit that high line. Salzburg have in the past caused problems against other hard-pressing teams,...
Former Liverpool captain was a Villan but not a villain on his return to the ground where he made his nameSome at Anfield rose to their feet to applaud a returning figure from their past. Danny Ings was back and he was coming off the bench. Meanwhile, Steven Gerrard grimaced in his distinctly damp vigil in the technical area. He has scripted some of the more improbable tales in 21st century football through sheer willpower but a man whose Liverpool career ended amid the humiliation and farce of a 6-1 thrashing at Stoke knows special occasions do not always go as planned.This didn’t. Not for Gerrard, though his Aston Villa side proved awkward opponents in defeat. Nor, perhaps, for the...