Manchester United’s manager has spent the season mixing traditional gripes with inventive new ones but the whining should be coming from his playersThe whining noise coming from the direction of Old Trafford has become steadily more audible in recent weeks, with José Mourinho mixing traditional gripes about exhaustion and fixture overload with some inventive new ones that would not occur to many other managers, such as complaining that his injured players seem to lack the will or competitive drive to return more quickly.By rights it should be a member of Manchester United’s much put-upon back line doing all the moaning. Luke Shaw has been treated with something between mistrust and outright dissatisfaction all season, and could not get any sympathy...
A moment of magic from Marcus Rashford covered for the fact that United’s strikers have struggled all season – backing up José Mourinho’s regular gripesFeyenoord, Fenerbahce, Zorya, St-Étienne, Rostov, Anderlecht and now Celta Vigo. Against their seventh different opponent from a seventh country Manchester United’s challenge was to finally produce the signature display that had eluded them on their travels.Do so in this Europa League semi-final first leg and José Mourinho’s side would make themselves firm favourites to reach the final at Solna’s Friends Arena in Stockholm later in May. Related: Marcus Rashford gives Manchester United crucial away win over Celta Vigo Related: Celta Vigo v Manchester United: Europa League semi-final first leg – as it happened Continue reading...
Gabriel and Arsenal falter under pressure, Crystal Palace have a problem with fan behaviour, Sunderland must keep Didier Ndong while Hull’s Harry Maguire continues his excellent formSean Dyche laughed off the fact James Tarkowski had been struck by a plastic cigarette lighter as Burnley’s players celebrated their first goal but Crystal Palace will find the incident far from amusing. This was the third time a visiting player has been struck by an object thrown from that corner of the Holmesdale stand since the club returned to the Premier League in 2013. Wayne Rooney and more recently Fabricio Coloccini were the others hit and the Metropolitan police appealed for witnesses over the coin flung at the Newcastle defender. The Football Association...
Latest derby was a stark reminder that the big beasts of the north-west are currently fighting over scraps while the London clubs watch from aboveAll those complaining that Thursday’s Manchester derby was not a patch on the previous week’s el clásico completely miss the point. In terms of quality the Manchester derby is currently no better than the Merseyside version and it is rapidly becoming as irrelevant. If the Premier League does have a derby to stand comparison with the best Spain can offer, at the moment it would have to be the London rivalry between Chelsea and Spurs, whose FA Cup semi-final was both an entertaining game and, as Antonio Conte said, a great advert for English football. Related:...
Manuel Pellegrini’s old players, a collection Guardiola has spent most of the season trying to move on from, were to the fore with the endgame on the lineAt times during a frazzled, occasionally surly first season Pep Guardiola has looked a little culture-shocked, a man chafing at the edge of things. It has been an uncomfortable embrace, with a sense of a man half-in half-out of the door, pretending to like the tea, smiling politely, but still vaguely scandalised by the raggedness, the physicality, the lack of order.Well, this was a bit more like it. On a tight, bruising night at the Etihad Stadium, with the season’s endgame on the line, Guardiola oversaw what must be the least Pep-ish Manchester...