Victory was secured at Peterborough, but not without the visitors learning that a playmaker needs possession to make their playsYou had to feel for Peterborough in a way. Make it through to the last 16 of the FA Cup for the first time in 36 years, bravely hold off one of the world’s best teams for an hour, and your reward? To get schooled by half a billion pounds’ worth of talent on your home turf.But if the skilled resistance of Grant McCann’s team finally crumbled in the last half-hour, in many ways the real reward was simply to be here: in the shop window, live on primetime ITV, bumping Emmerdale off the schedules. Continue reading...
Michy Batshuayi might be just what Chelsea need, VAR creates fresh farce and Coventry’s on-field outlook brightens at lastCardiff are not the first team to irk Pep Guardiola this season with their aggressive style but the constant fouling and Lee Mason’s conservative use of cards meant Manchester City were lucky to get away with only one injury in their victory at Cardiff City Stadium. Leroy Sané was the victim of a heinous shin-high challenge from Joe Bennett at the end of the first half that was punished only with a yellow card, the Cardiff defender eventually being dismissed in the closing stages of the match for a late lunge on the teenager Brahim Díaz. Guardiola rightly lambasted Mason after the...
Plymouth’s defence was classy and defiant, Ndidi excelled on Leicester debut, Batshuayi proved little and Stourbridge showed romance is alive, even in defeatThe triumphant celebrations after Plymouth Argyle’s 0-0 draw at Anfield were further confirmation that giant-equalling is the new giantkilling. In the modern world of the FA Cup, it is enough for David to draw with Goliath – especially as it means a second payday for clubs often in need of such a financial boost. For Plymouth’s players, it was about more than that. It’s easy to be sniffy about their ultra-defensive approach against the youngest team in Liverpool’s history, but most League Two teams would not have been good enough to pull it off. Plymouth defended with such...
A rousing display from Grant McCann’s side showed the value of youth but Sunday’s chastening defeat may soon be the least of Bolton’s concernsBolton Wanderers may have already eclipsed last season’s miserly tally of 30 points but on this weekend’s evidence they have plenty of work to do if they are to return to the Championship at the first time of asking.Phil Parkinson, the Bolton manager, had warned his players about basking in their promising start but they did just that in a 1-0 defeat at Peterborough United on Sunday, a game they went into after five league wins on the bounce. Among supporters, there is anything but hubris. “The fact we are still here is the main thing,” said...