Brighton, Huddersfield and Newcastle are surpassing expectations and are showing clubs such as Everton and West Ham how it should be doneWhen Pep Guardiola suggested an English team could win the Champions League the other day he was asked if he did not consider the intensity of the Premier League a potential problem. Intensity being the word normally used to promote the idea that the English league is somehow tougher and more demanding than other leagues around Europe, with more competitive fixtures each weekend and a festive programme that usually sets out to be as gruelling as possible when other countries’ footballers are quite sensibly having a rest.“No,” Guardiola said. “I don’t believe in that. I think the best team...
The man appointed to replace Slaven Bilic was deemed dated by his players when on Wearside, where he became shrouded in a cloak of negativityFootball club executives like to talk up the amount of “due diligence” they routinely undertake before hiring anyone but such boasts sometimes end up ringing hollow.Anyone who watched Sunderland regularly last season can be forgiven for wondering precisely how much homework West Ham United did before appointing David Moyes to replace Slaven Bilic. Related: West Ham United appoint David Moyes as new manager 6 Related: West Ham pay a high price for keeping faith in Slaven Bilic too long Continue reading...
Eden Hazard may tire of being kicked, Tony Pulis is under pressure at West Brom and Pep Guardiola may seek more firepower in JanuaryEden Hazard was fouled six times at Stamford Bridge. At one point in the second half the Belgium international was fouled by not one but three opponents in the colours of Manchester United, dragged to the ground by a combination of Nemanja Matic, Eric Bailly and Phil Jones like a man being crushed by falling trees. It is a regular experience for Chelsea’s No10, who can duck in and out from season to season, but who is at least consistent in his role as a human piñata for opposition teams. Hazard is kicked constantly in the Premier...
Feeble performance by team who should be doing so much better results in 4-1 home defeat by Liverpool that provides few signs of any improvement to comeIt was four, it should have been six, it could have been 10. West Ham United have hardly prospered since moving to the London Stadium but, like the thrashing by Arsenal last season or the Friday night thumping by Brighton last month, this was a defeat that will linger like a fish under the floorboards. It truly stank.Slaven Bilic will face questions about his future as manager after this result and rightly so. He has faced such questions before in his two‑and‑a‑half‑year tenure and survived but the naivety, the disorganisation and, by the end, a...
Liverpool’s search for a penalty-taker goes on, Mauricio Pochettino appeared unruffled after defeat at Old Trafford and Manchester City don’t look invincibleNext Sunday, Manchester City host Arsenal at 1.30pm and Manchester United play Chelsea at 4pm; it really is amazing just how often the fixture list throws up these coincidences! And whatever happens in the first game, the pressure will be on those playing in the second, because if City win, those teams will be fighting to stay in touch; if they do not, they will be fighting to take advantage of a rare City slip. So how do Arsenal make that happen? Well, their attacking trident of Mesut Özil, Alexis Sánchez and Alexandre Lacazette are good enough to give...