Ironic cheers mocking the opposition and losing control of all senses for goal celebrations returned effortlessly at the stadiumThere was a point during the first lockdown, when I’d daydream about becoming a “yes man”. I’d think to myself “I got too sucked into the rat race, man. If this thing has taught me anything, it’s that life is about experiences. I’ve spent too much time on my phone. As soon as I’m able to I’ll say yes to that bungee jump. I’ll say yes to that National Trust dry stone walling course. Life is lived on the margins so I’ll take up kickboxing and enter a dialogue with pain.” As you can imagine, this nettle grasping lasted about 30 seconds...
Record £15.5m signing has fired Swansea to second in the Championship after going 1,022 days without a goal for the clubThirty-eight days ago Borja Bastón replaced Oli McBurnie in the final throes of Swansea’s third pre-season friendly. It was there at St James Park in Exeter where the Spaniard’s improbable resurrection began in earnest, with his return to the first-team fold after an 805-day hiatus paving the way for an extraordinary rebirth that has led to the striker firing Swansea to second in the Championship and topping the goalscoring charts, with five goals in five games. In weeks Borja has gone from a lesser-spotted misfit to something of an undroppable force.A £15.5m club-record signing three years ago, Borja proved a...
Ross Barkley’s difficult return, VAR inconsistency in the FA Cup, Nuno Espírito Santo impresses and James Maddison’s classRoss Barkley would have known what kind of reception awaited him at Goodison Park: the type rained down on previous Everton escapees such as Wayne Rooney and Joleon Lescott. Goodison might not be much longer for this world, with the latest suggestion being a new stadium for 2023, but for now it retains old‑fashioned menace to those who have transgressed the Evertonian code. Barkley’s crime among the faithful is to have left Goodison on a cut-price transfer to Chelsea in the January transfer window of last year after running down his contract. As he left the field after being substituted in the 65th...
Big-spending Nottingham Forest will hope they can do a Wolves but the English second tier remains unpredictable Related: League One 2018-19 preview| Ben Fisher Related: League Two 2018-19 season preview | Ben Fisher Related: Number of clubs sponsored by betting firms is ‘disturbing’, say campaigners Related: Football League 2018-19: 20 things to watch out for this season | Jacob Steinberg Continue reading...
As the gulf grows between rich and poor clubs so, too, does a culture in which some teams enter games accepting the only way they can compete is by not competingTactics are always contingent, never discreet. No manager can ever casually decide how he will play and only then turn to his squad and decide how best to array his resources within the system he has selected, before finally paying attention to the situation and the opposition. Everything is inter‑related. As Barney Ronay observed last week, the Premier League has never seemed so stratified and that, inevitably, has had an impact on how teams play.As with so much in football, the issue is one of degree. Since Herbert Chapman first...