Manchester City have found an innovative way to combat cliques but England’s Gareth Southgate will need more than feng shui to tackle his own problemThe butt of much public mockery when Sky’s cameras captured assorted well-heeled corporate clients peering through its walls of two‑way glass last Monday night, Manchester City’s Tunnel Club is the most amusing but not necessarily most interesting renovation to have been undertaken at the Etihad Stadium during the close season. Moving on from the well fed and watered supporters staring in slack-jawed wonder at the exhibits as they prepared for battle, the cameras also gave us a glimpse of an inner sanctum that, for the time being at least, remains closed to prying eyes on match...
The sight of spellbound gawpers, paying up to £15k a season, watching John Stones paddle by raised plenty of ire and the question of just how far Premier League idiocy can goSometimes you only want to hear one commentator on a certain subject, and which of us can truly rest till we have heard Roy Keane on Manchester City’s Tunnel Club? It makes the prawn sandwich brigade look like a bunch of scavengers going through bins in search of leftover crusts of E-coli pie.If you missed Sky’s pant-wetting coverage of this on Monday night, City have unveiled a huge advance in the economic stratification of football fans. The Tunnel Club is a new facility at the Etihad which offers unprecedented...
The Everton player, as well as Sergio Agüero, were involved in challenges that led to sending-offs, possibly through making them seem worse than they were, but still the FA’s new panel cannot make its first judgmentWhat a disappointment. The Premier League season is only two matches old and already it looks as if the Football Association’s initiative on diving and simulation is struggling to keep pace. Related: Calvert-Lewin and Agüero face no action under new FA simulation rules Continue reading...
Adam Lallana’s thigh injury has opened up berth in Southgate’s squad and he must be impressed at how Rooney is back knocking in the goals for EvertonWayne Rooney’s 200th Premier League goal was particularly sweet as it came before a Manchester City crowd who just love to detest the former Manchester United captain. Rooney left Old Trafford in the summer for Everton as record scorer with 253 goals. Here he registered a 19th finish for his boyhood club, an instinctive left-foot jab that squeezed under Ederson’s legs before ricocheting in via the left post. Rooney duly put extra spice into his celebration at a venue he has previously enjoyed for United. Related: Raheem Sterling draws comfort for 10-man Manchester City...
Liverpool’s defensive frailties, Wayne Rooney’s nous in both boxes, an unwanted headache for Paul Clement and Manchester United’s unsung heroesSo, why was it that Chelsea decided they could afford to let Nemanja Matic join Manchester United and willingly pass over one of the more brilliantly effective midfield players of the modern game to a major rival? When that question was posed to José Mourinho after Manchester United’s biggest league win since he took over as manager he made it sound as if he was slightly bewildered, too. “It depends on what is happening, or what was happening, behind doors and we don’t know,” he said. “The only thing I know is that, with Chelsea’s money, I brought him to Stamford...