The director of football role is underrated in England but may have helped the transition to Frank de Boer or forced Arsène Wenger to leave his comfort zoneNow the honeymoon period has well and truly fizzled out, extinguished by so much sideways football that soon Louis van Gaal will be making a pilgrimage to Selhurst Park to see what all the fuss is about, it comes as no surprise to learn Crystal Palace appear to be wondering whether the man who said he would make his new team play like Ajax might not be up to the task of managing in the Premier League.Judging by the grumbling emanating from south London last week, some members of Palace’s squad appear to have made...
West Brom, even without Jonny Evans, give a masterclass in defending again; Newcastle underpowered in attack; Sadio Mané shows his importance to LiverpoolNathaniel Chalobah had an eventful match for Watford on Saturday. By dummying the ball at the suggestion of Bournemouth’s Harry Arter he inadvertently reminded the world of the subclause to Law 12 which states a player should be cautioned if he “verbally distracts an opponent during play”. The England Under-21s midfielder missed two good chances to score; a header and a one-on-one. He gave the ball away several times. But in only his second Premier League start Chalobah also led the match in both tackles and dribbles. It was his breakaway sprint that proved to be the catalyst...
Liverpool’s defensive frailties, Wayne Rooney’s nous in both boxes, an unwanted headache for Paul Clement and Manchester United’s unsung heroesSo, why was it that Chelsea decided they could afford to let Nemanja Matic join Manchester United and willingly pass over one of the more brilliantly effective midfield players of the modern game to a major rival? When that question was posed to José Mourinho after Manchester United’s biggest league win since he took over as manager he made it sound as if he was slightly bewildered, too. “It depends on what is happening, or what was happening, behind doors and we don’t know,” he said. “The only thing I know is that, with Chelsea’s money, I brought him to Stamford...
Slaven Bilic’s side will hope for a smoother second season at the London Stadium but with a shift in transfer policy and doubts over the manager’s tactics and future it is hard to detect a clear plan at the clubGuardian writers’ predicted position 10th (NB: this is not necessarily Jacob Steinberg’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)Last season’s position 11th Continue reading...
The club are celebrating ‘a great transfer window’, but Joe Hart, Javier Hernández and Marko Arnautovic may turn out to be sticking plasters in lieu of a real planWest Ham United are feeling very pleased with themselves at the moment. Relieved, too. After making a spectacular show of themselves in the transfer market last summer, when they started out with hopes of luring Alexandre Lacazette to east London and ended up convincing themselves that Simone Zaza was the answer, this time they have been assertive. In the past fortnight alone they have signed England’s No1 on loan, one of their rivals’ finest talents and a striker who scored 59 goals in 156 games for Manchester United. Related: West Ham announce...