Gone are the days when it was enough for a new strip to look good. Designers are obsessed with spinning a complex yarnIn 1976 the groundbreaking choreographer Peter Darrell debuted Mary Queen of Scots, an attempt to tell the story of the doomed monarch entirely through the medium of dance. “Darrell’s ballet is historically pretty accurate,” James Kennedy wrote in his review for the Guardian. “The events, as here transmuted into classical dance, did (more or less) happen. Why did Darrell and his lively company do it? Well, you can have marvellous historical plays and poignant, if imperfect, historical operas, so why not a successful historical ballet?”Forty-three years have now passed since Darrell’s ballet opened to the public, a near-half-century...
The very English centre-forward is surplus to requirements at West Ham but another club could surely harness his talentsWhen the time comes for a big screen Andy Carroll biopic it may be a good idea to start with a chase scene. Perhaps even that traumatic attempted heist three years ago when a man on a moped stopped Carroll’s jeep after training and tried to get him to hand over his watch.It led to some heroic quick reactions. Key details include Carroll crashing into “at least 10” cars as he drove away. Carroll shouting “I’m a Premier League footballer!” at the emergency services as he fled his pursuers. And Carroll heading rather sweetly not for the nearest police station but back...
A chance for Shaqiri to shine, City may need to show their dark side and Cardiff can pile pressure on BrightonPep Guardiola is not usually short of post-match praise for his players, but he struck a different note after the Manchester derby win. “Tonight we can enjoy it, but tomorrow it’s over, so we have to be focused,” he said. “I know people are going to talk about how beautiful, how handsome we are, but now we have to go to Burnley”. Guardiola is rightly taking nothing for granted even after taking the necessary six points from Spurs and United. Burnley were one of six teams to take points off City last season and have routinely posed problems for the...
Its awards time for the most incompetent teams in the Premier League, from those who cant take throw-ins to others who revel in needless yellow cardsWelcome to the Guardians fifth annual index of ineptitude, a catalogue of calamity, a prospectus of the piss-poor.As each season draws to a close, the best moments, players and teams of the year are all charted, celebrated and cheered. Which means that what comprises most of the rest of the Premier League experience is missed. Related: The Premier League teams ineptitude index 2017-18 Continue reading...
Hard for Manchester City and Spurs to serve up another classic, Everton can cause trouble for Manchester United and Chelsea fans should lap up Eden HazardBefore the run-in even started, Liverpool looked like they might be consumed by nerves during it, so tentative were their performances against Leicester, West Ham and Manchester United. But they battled hard to avoid disaster, and now that the run-in is actually under way, are playing like a team who expect to be champions, either riding their good form or maintaining the patience and composure necessary to force the issue. Against both Tottenham and Chelsea, they could easily have flapped in frantic, frenetic style, but instead were able to increase intensity without sacrificing control, which...