Manchester City playmaker gave a reminder of his frightening talent in a meeting with Liverpool that offered endless thrillsThere was a nice moment at the end of this game. As the players milled around the centre circle drawing a breath, and as Phil Foden went to place a fond arm round the shoulder of James Milner, who had spent the first half trying, and mainly failing, to body-check him into the advert boards, the crowd in the seats and the walkways stopped to give the players a gentle, rippling ovation.It was that kind of afternoon. At kick-off Anfield had been illuminated by soft, autumnal sun at one end, the chill beginning to creep in under a powder-blue sky. What followed...
Tireless on the pitch and conscientious off it, Liverpool’s old master is plodding steadily towards a place in football historyEmerson Royal is a £25m Brazil international and a specialist right-back. James Milner is a 35-year-old odd-job man who was playing Premier League football before Emma Raducanu and Harvey Elliott were born. On successive Saturdays, each was subjected to trial by Wilfried Zaha. Only one passed and it wasn’t the man bought from Barcelona last month.Perhaps it is unfair to judge the Tottenham newcomer on the basis of a debut in which he was parachuted into a makeshift defence. And yet Milner was a late call-up for a new-look Liverpool back four on Saturday, charged with flanking the debutant Ibrahima Konaté....
Jürgen Klopp will have mixed feelings after a wild, ragged win over Milan that showcased all the best – and worst – of his team“Proper Champions League”. You said it, Jürgen. At times in the second half at Anfield, as the red and cream shapes spun and surged, exchanging darts and overloads, as the crowd generated that rolling surge of heat and noise under the low white lights, this felt like a kind of tribute night, a nostalgia spectacular, Those Famous European Nights redux.Part of the PR puff behind the European Super League – a wheeze the owners of these teams were so keen to embrace – was the sense these autumn games are a trudge, a schlep, cold product....
Spain midfielder has protection from Fabinho, allowing him to be braver on the ball and leading to one assist against LeedsAs the game ebbed towards its unsatisfying, soft-pedalled conclusion, with their team losing 2-0 and down to 10 men, the Leeds fans decided to make their own entertainment. “Who’s the scouser in the black?” they chanted at the referee Craig Pawson after a litany of decisions had gone against them. When Pawson finally gave them a free-kick in a dangerous position, they cheered for a full 30 seconds. Apropos of very little, Sky TV was disparaged in the most industrial language.In a way, this was a measure of just how effectively Liverpool had done their jobs here: one of the...
A look at classics from a Tony Yeboah special in 1995 to a symbolic defeat for David O’Leary in 2002What’s your favourite: Liverpool or Wimbledon? Tony Yeboah won Goal of the Month in August and September 1995 for two screamers, at Elland Road and Selhurst Park, both scorched off the underside of the bar from distance. The Wimbledon goal, a manic, impromptu explosion of brilliance, has greater charisma and was the BBC’s Goal of the Season. But the goal against Liverpool involved a more difficult skill, volleying a ball that was dropping from the heavens. Continue reading...