Roberto Firmino is underrated no longer, Jonjo Shelvey’s calmness is key and Alexandre Lacazette is lacking confidenceThe Recap: sign up for the best of our sport coverageLet’s call it the Denis Irwin rule, the dictum that when a player is described as underrated so often then it’s probably no longer valid to call him underrated. It’s starting to happen to Roberto Firmino, whose all-round excellence for Liverpool has been recognised much more in recent times. The 26-year-old’s range of skills defy stereotypes. His Brazilian flair was evident in his ingenious flick for Mo Salah’s goal at St Mary’s, Liverpool’s second in a routine victory, and he has a resting heart-rate when all is manic in the opposition penalty area. Yet...
Sam Allardyce looks to next season, Swansea find belief under Carlos Carvalhal and Liverpool’s defence worthy of praiseGet The Recap, the best of the Guardian’s sport coverageLiverpool’s oft-maligned defence deserved a little credit here. For almost the entire game they kept Spurs at bay, with Dejan Lovren and Virgil van Dijk making important blocks and Loris Karius looking a decisive shot‑stopper. Perhaps Liverpool could have been slightly quicker to close down Victor Wanyama when the Spurs substitute equalised but when Karius stood tall to deny Harry Kane from the penalty spot it appeared the home side had answered most of the criticisms of their defensive solidity. When Mohamed Salah scored at the other end in the 91st minute Anfield was...
Romelu Lukaku is weighing in with some key contributions, Christian Benteke is not and Tottenham are showing how much weaker they are without Christian EriksenSergio Agüero has had a curiosity of a campaign. He has been injured, benched and below par at times. He has been outscored by Raheem Sterling for much of the season. Yet his hat-trick on Saturday meant he has scored 20 goals for a fifth successive campaign. Further milestones await: Agüero is nine away from becoming the first man to score 200 for City. He is 11 behind his career-best tally of 33 and, with successive cup ties against Championship opponents, Bristol City and Cardiff, he has the chance to make further inroads before Gabriel Jesus...
Seeing Andy Carroll or Peter Crouch at Chelsea is too good to hope for as it could confirm suspicions about the basic numbers of effectiveness and opportunity in elite teamsIt is nearly 40 years since a famous photo emerged that left the nascent Indian space programme an object of widespread mockery. The photo, published in 1979, showed India’s brand new state-of-the-art communications satellite being wheeled out for its launch – on a bullock cart.For political opponents the picture exposed the space programme as a matter of grandiose ambition undercut by agricultural thinking, a bullock cart culture. That same year the Indian government announced it would also be spending $6bn on bullock cart research, with the idea of entering the white...
This week’s roundup also features a Robbie Fowler dink, a memorable ODI between Australia and England and all of Boca Juniors’ goals from 20171) Farewell Ronaldinho, you were a lot of fun. Here are all his goals for Barcelona, some tricks and flicks, futsal magnificence, keepie-uppies with a crossbar, that goal against Chelsea, trick tackling and oh David! To show he’s human there’s also this.2) En route to winning the Tournament of Champions Dustin Johnson came within inches of a hole in one on a par four after a 430 yard drive. It would have been the longest in a professional tournament but there have been some par-four aces caught on camera: Andrew Magee, Richard Green, Minjee Lee, Rahil Gangjee,...