Manchester United are right to see the Spurs manager as their best option but whether he will say yes is far from certainThere is no question that Manchester United have identified the right man to fill the Old Trafford vacancy in Mauricio Pochettino; the Tottenham manager is an even more impressive candidate now than he was in 2016, when he was shortlisted as a replacement for Louis van Gaal but considered riskier than José Mourinho because of his lack of trophies.If that has come to be viewed as a blunder, then United are in a position to correct it, even if it ends up costing north of £40m and Pochettino would be leaving a better team and more stable club...
Tottenham’s support had to contemplate failure in Barcelona until Lucas Moura suddenly turned the evening on its headTottenham’s fans had just been asked to stay in their seats after the final whistle when Érik Lamela collected the ball on the left and saw Harry Kane move ahead.It was more than an hour since Ousmane Dembélé had scored the opening goal at the Camp Nou and 15 minutes since the news had come in from Milan, where their fate was also being decided and where Mauro Icardi had scored. There were six minutes to go now, Internazionale were level against PSV Eindhoven, and Spurs were out. High in the east stand, a long wait lay ahead, 6,000 of them, sitting there...
Maurizio Sarri’s team were left frazzled by the craft of Eriksen, Alli and Son and the return of Spurs’ high pressWith 16 minutes gone at Wembley it was clear the witching hour was at hand. Strange things had already begun to happen. Chelsea’s custard-yellow shirts seemed to be moving through a heavier gravity. Moussa Sissoko had just picked up the ball in midfield and slalomed away from two Chelsea players, legs flailing like a drunken Zidane. No doubt in the rows of suburban houses beyond the glare of the stadium the cats began to bark, the dogs miaowed and the birds flew backwards.At which point, with Tottenham already 1-0 up, David Luiz seemed to wink out of existence completely; to...
Overrun on White Hart Lane has begun to affect an overachieving manager who may tire of austerityFootball fans. Save money on expensive TV subscriptions. Create your own Sky Sports Monday Night Football debate by standing behind a desk shrieking “Twenty‑nine million pounds net!” and “Five hundred million on a stadium!” in a voice so high-pitched it’s audible only to fish, dogs and snails, before almost coming to blows during a metaphysical debate over the meaning of success in an essentially meaningless world.Among the many oddities of Tottenham v Manchester City at the Wembley multisport complex on Monday was the sight of Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher being drawn, with a commendable degree of feeling, into the general uncertainty around where...
Tottenham came unstuck when they pressed high at the Etihad last season but it was preferable to their timid performance against Manchester City at WembleyTottenham would press them, push high up the pitch, even from goal-kicks. They’d be aggressive and adventurous. They’d stop Manchester City playing out from the back. This would be a proper test of Pep Guardiola’s side. Related: The Pep commandments: how lessons learned at Bayern stymied Liverpool | Jonathan Wilson Related: Pep Guardiola admits he was wrong to call Spurs the ‘Harry Kane team’ Continue reading...