Villa can put wind up Manchester United, a City old boy runs into Haaland and Spurs have an awful history at AnfieldPeople are no longer ignoring the massive turnaround Unai Emery has performed at Villa Park. There were not many personnel changes in January; teenage striker Jhon Durán was signed from Chicago Fire, Bertrand Traoré was recalled from loan at Istanbul Basaksehir and, most importantly, Alex Moreno joined from Real Betis. Lucas Digne has been deposed from the defence and Villa have only lost twice in Moreno’s 15 appearances, with the Spaniard quickly becoming integral to the system. He is popular off the pitch too, ingratiating himself with fans with a recent interview in English, smiling throughout despite not yet...
Tottenham need a leader who suits their style – but it’s not clear Daniel Levy has the requisite vision to pierce the gloomTottenham stand at a crossroads. But then they always do. They have been standing at a crossroads for at least 50 years. And while some roads lead through cup finals and hopeful vistas and others through gloom and Tim Sherwood this, perhaps, is the true history of the Tottenham: life as a series of crossroads that lead always, eventually, back to another crossroads somewhere in the Valley of Not-Quite-There.Often Tottenham seem to take the right road. In the final week of 2009-10, for instance, they went to Manchester City needing to win to take fourth from Sheikh Mansour’s...
Manchester City are peaking at the right time, Brentford risk their season petering out and Spurs live in the land of uncertaintyAfter Manchester City’s 3-0 humbling of Bayern Munich, next up at the Etihad is the Premier League’s second-bottom team, Leicester. This will be the champions’ last league game before a seismic clash with Arsenal on 26 April. Pep Guardiola’s men are in ripe form just as the treble roves into sight, with next Wednesday’s return at Bayern in the Champions League coming three days before a Wembley trip to take on Sheffield United in the FA Cup semi-finals. Erling Haaland is adding assists to his goal-gluttony, Bernardo Silva’s dancing feet are back, and Rúben Dias is a colossus in...
Spurs need a hungry manager on the way up, rather than one – no matter how young – fighting for relevanceIf only Julian Nagelsmann had never become manager of Bayern Munich, the world might have believed he would be a very good manager of Bayern Munich. It was a job to which he had seemed destined since becoming the youngest coach in Bundesliga history in 2016, taking charge of Hoffenheim at the age of 29. He had already led Hoffenheim’s under-19s to the Bundesliga youth title. He seemed preternaturally gifted and in Germany the gifted always end up at Bayern, especially when they come from Bavaria.Taking over with Hoffenheim seven points adrift, Nagelsmann inspired them to unlikely survival and the...
WhatsApp group where Daniel Levy’s former employees discuss his wine gum obsession and sketchy transfer policyDaniel Levy Support Network Nuno, José, Mauricio +10 othersJosé Mourinho someone add antonio Continue reading...