Mikel Arteta has a modern plan and is exhibiting the personality to put it into effect at the Emirates StadiumIt was only the Community Shield. It’s unlikely to be remembered in a month, never mind in a year or five or 10. Sports historians of decades to come will probably not be basing grand theses around some slightly tentative probing between two undercooked teams on a damp and blustery afternoon at Wembley. But it was another success for Mikel Arteta, further evidence that he might be building something exciting at Arsenal.Nobody at the Emirates Stadium should get carried away. This, fundamentally, does not matter – go on, without checking, what happened in the Community Shield last year? (Manchester City won...
Until the 18-year-old forward got on the ball, it seemed Arsenal were in for a long afternoon against Liverpool at WembleyArsenal’s David Luiz made two careless mistakes in the opening minutes of this game and got away with both of them. First he brought down Georginio Wijnaldum of Liverpool with a flailing attempt at a rugby tackle and saw Virgil van Dijk’s neat finish to an Andy Robertson free-kick correctly ruled out for offside. A couple of minutes later he needlessly passed the ball out of play to set up the position for Neco Williams to cross from the right, James Milner heading too high in the middle when he should probably have hit the target. Related: Aubameyang keeps his...
A lifelong supporter, Paul Hanagan was cheered by the club’s success as he recovered from three fractured vertebraePaul Hanagan, who will return to action on Tuesday after six months out with a broken back, has spoken of how he was helped through some of the darkest days by Liverpool’s belated Premier League success. Hanagan is so well known as a Reds fan that when he became champion jockey in 2010, it was arranged for him to be given the trophy by Ian Rush at half-time during a game at Anfield. Related: Deauville win sets up Palace Pier to face Mohaather in QEII at Ascot Catterick 1.15 Altalune 1.45 Look Out Louis (nap) 2.20 Internationalangel 2.50 Shanghai Rock 3.20 Lady Nectar 3.50...
Liverpool’s key advantage over Manchester City was their ability to better organise attacks and manage the transition to defenceIt has become increasingly clear this season that, at elite level, two attributes separate the very best managers from the rest: their capacity to manage the transition from attack to defence; and their ability to organise an attack, particularly against deep-lying opponents. Jürgen Klopp has excelled at both and the Swabian school of pressing, of which he is the leading practitioner, becomes ever more widespread.The figures have been muddied by Liverpool’s recent relaxation but, after 31 games of the season, the week the title was confirmed, Manchester City had scored seven more goals than Liverpool; Liverpool had conceded 12 fewer. Essentially, what...
The Premier League and EFL organised lavish trophy presentation ceremonies inside football grounds. What did they expect to happen?If only they had known. If only there had been some kind of clue. A recent precedent from which they might have learned a thing or two. A well-documented and much-traduced pandemic-unfriendly, massed gathering of jubilant football fans outside an Anfield-sized, Anfield-shaped football stadium called Anfield, for example. If only.Then maybe, just maybe, the decision-makers at Premier League HQ would have seen incontrovertible evidence that might have helped them to decide upon doing the decent thing. To realise that, in the interests of public health during a global pandemic, staging a trophy presentation inside an Anfield-sized, Anfield-shaped football stadium called Anfield may...