Individual errors at vital moments left West Ham on the wrong end of a 5-0 scoreline against Manchester City and Slaven Bilic looking for a hole to climb intoNowhere in English football does the manager appear more isolated than at the London Stadium. This match had a television audience of millions, a stadium attendance of tens of thousands, a matchday staff in the hundreds, a few dozen players, coaches and physios and beyond them all, standing alone on the touchline with the bench a good 20 yards distant and no one but an occasional passing linesman for company, the two men carrying responsibility for it all. Related: Manchester City cruise past West Ham thanks to David Silva masterclass Related: West...
Pep Guardiola must remember Keirrison at Barcelona as a cautionary tale but will believe his latest skinny-legged signing can deliverPep Guardiola felt he needed something extra in attack and his director of football, Txiki Begiristain, gave it to him in the form of a skinny-legged Brazilian teenager from Palmeiras with high hopes and a catchy name. Although as it turned out Keirrison’s name was probably the best thing about Barcelona’s new attacking signing in the summer of 2009.What a name it is too. Shortly before Keirrison moved to Spain his father explained that as a young man he had become fixated with the leather-trousered Lizard King rock god Jim Morrison of the Doors. In a slightly roundabout tribute, Keirrison’s elder...
Liverpool, Manchester United, Sunderland, Leicester and others may be hit by loss of players to tournament as clubs such as Chelsea, Manchester City capitaliseNow is the time for top clubs to prove that to be forewarned really is to be forearmed. Everyone knew that the Africa Cup of Nations was on the agenda for early 2017 and now, with 23 Premier League players among those heading off to Gabon to compete for their countries in what their employers view as the world’s worst-timed international tournament, rich clubs must show they are resourceful enough to cope. Otherwise they will pay a heavy price. Related: Liverpool’s matchwinner Sadio Mané will head to Gabon with a heavy heart Related: Wilfried Zaha accepts Ivory...
Manchester City’s manager and Liverpool’s Jürgen Klopp have not enjoyed the festive mayhem unique to the English game, but that is one of the many hurdles to overcome in the Premier LeagueThe FA Cup arrives like the cavalry at the weekend to interrupt an engrossing title race and temporarily shelve Pep Guardiola’s rhetorical question about whether or not Manchester City are in it. Related: Pep Guardiola denies Manchester City discipline problem after latest red card Related: Manchester City’s Bacary Sagna asked by FA to explain ‘10 against 12’ post If you think this PL holiday fixture list is mad, here's next year: December 16/20/23/26/30 January 1. World Cup follows. Utterly Bonkers. Related: Pep Guardiola feels pressure as tempers fray and...
Pep Guardiola was angry behind the scenes at Liverpool and the defeat showed he has yet to recreate the understanding at Manchester City that he enjoyed at BarcelonaPep Guardiola wished the assembled media a happy new year at the start of his post-match press conference and extended the seasonal goodwill message to their families when he left the Anfield stage. It was a nice touch by the Manchester City manager but the niceties were part of a performance better than that produced by his team at Liverpool and exposed by an angry, exasperated exchange with Txiki Begiristain shortly afterwards. There was no goodwill to be found in defeat by Jürgen Klopp and falling 10 points adrift of Chelsea, the leaders.Press...