“The most difficult [issue] that people have [with VAR] is the offside rule,” Arsene Wenger, now of FIFA, claimed back in December. Having spent a lifetime shrugging in discontent at referees and their assistants, the ex-Arsenal boss is reportedly on a mission to revolutionise the way that offsides are given - or not given, as the case may be.Currently, any part of the body that can play the ball can be deemed to be offside by mere millimetres. This season in particular, that rule has come under ridicule, particularly with the advent of VAR into the Premier League.We have a habit of thinking of VAR like the Matrix; a machine-like overlord gone rogue, disallowing our previously perfectly-good goals. So to...
It never rains but it pours in North London. After losing Harry Kane for the majority of the campaign - as they seem to every season, now - Tottenham are now facing the prospect of playing the rest of this term without Son Heung-min either.Manager Jose Mourinho famously has very strict criteria for the kind of striker that he likes in his side. Short of Fernando Llorente terminating his Napoli contract and signing for Daniel Levy on a free… how will Jose roll the dice on this one?Lucas Moura up front alone@Arsenal's frontWATCH @SkySports expert Jose Mourinho consider how the Gunners can make best use of their talent front trio of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Nicolas PepeMORE ANALYSIS -...
Ten minutes on the clock, 64 managersto guess. You ready for it?Remember to tweet your scores@FourFourTwo, and challenge some friends while you're at it.NOW TRYQuiz! Can you name Jose Mourinho's most played players at Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham? City vs VAR. Messi vs United. Ronaldo vs the world. The battles that the Champions League can give us on the pitch are tantalising - but so are the ones in the dugout.Tonight sees no exception. The youngest coach in Europe's top five leagues, Julian Nagelsmann, takes on two-time winner of the trophy Jose Mourinho.The history of the competition is littered with the greats of the game, the most insightful minds who mastered the tactics board and delivered European glory to...
p.s. We jetted off to Dortmund last week for an exclusive chat with the boy wonder. Look out for it in our issue out March 5...Erling Haaland was born this side of The Real Slim Shadyby Eminem. His father was a Premier League footballerwho had his career cut short by injury.Haaland Jr. is on his fourth club in four years. He's in a frontline with a Real Madrid star's younger brother and the best-kept marketing secret in English football. He scores with every other touch. But perhaps most unbelievably,his journey hasn't been scripted by EA for their story mode in FIFA 21.Stars do not often present themselves in the manner that Haaland has. Usually, you have to squint through the...
Among the positives for Manchester United on Monday night was the performance of Anthony Martial, who scored the first goal against Chelsea and showed an aggression with the ball which hasn’t always been his trademark.Martial is a curious case. He’s 24 now, 25 at the end of this year, and this is his fifth season at United. Statistically, he’s been a disappointment since arriving from Ligue1. He’s reached double figures twice and almost certainly will for a third time in 2019-20, but that’s a fairly meagre return for someone of his abilities. Martial is tall and elegant, technical and languidly quick. He should be better than this.It’s a discussion with an asterisk, because United have had their own, well-publicised issues....