Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim explained Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho's surprise omission from his squad for their match against Manchester City was not for disciplinary reasons but was intended to push them. Amorim said 'it's important the performance in training, the performance in-game, the way you dress, the way you eat, the way you engage with teammates, the way you push your teammates' and added that the team proved through their victory again City that they 'can leave anyone outside the squad and manage to win'.
Unbeaten but uninspired, fans begin to tire of draw specialists Juventus
Thiago Motta’s reboot of the Turin giants is stalling even if they are yet to suffer a Serie A defeat
Sir Alex Ferguson diminished Arsenal’s Invincibles of 2003-04, who went an entire Premier League season without defeat, by accusing them of “too many draws”. What, then, would he make of this year’s Juventus? They are the only unbeaten team in Serie A, yet they have won just six out of 16 games.
Saturday’s match at home to Venezia was expected to provide the seventh. Juventus had broken a run of four consecutive draws by beating Manchester City in the Champions League. Sure, Pep Guardiola’s team have been in a tailspin, but they are not the only ones. Venezia sat dead last in the Serie A table, without a win since October.
Continue reading...Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action
Nottingham Forest are dreaming of Europe while Ismaïla Sarr is a reason for Crystal Palace fans to be cheerful
Manchester United’s selection was something of a surprise, with Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho left out of the squad completely and Ruben Amorim further raising eyebrows by saying the decision had been made after analysing “everything – training, performance, engagement with teammates”. It was only something of a surprise, however, because the XI was posted on Facebook by Samuel Luckhurst of the Manchester Evening News at 10.23pm on Saturday night, a little over 18 hours before kick-off. “Interesting an XI has already leaked this evening,” he wrote. “Teams have leaked out of United for years but the current regularity, brazen manner of it and apparently public identity of the source make it more of an issue.” Amorim’s twin tasks are to create a successful team and a disciplined club where nobody threatening the collective to promote their individual agendas. Despite this welcome result, he has a lot to do on both fronts. Simon Burnton
Match report: Manchester City 1-2 Manchester United
Guardiola feels he is ‘not good enough’ after City’s late defeat by United
Match report: Liverpool 2-2 Fulham
Match report: Arsenal 0-0 Everton
Match report: Wolves 1-2 Ipswich
Continue reading...European football: Leganés stun Barça as Atlético Madrid make move
- Leganés defender Sergio González scores early winner
- Sørloth moves Atlético above Real Madrid into second
Barcelona lost 1-0 to Leganés, allowing Atlético Madrid to pull level with them at the top of La Liga. Sergio González’s fourth-minute header for Leganés proved enough to stun the wasteful hosts, who lost their second consecutive league game in front of their own fans. The defender rose unmarked at the near post to fire an unstoppable header past Iñaki Peña.
Despite dominating with over 80% possession, Barça were clueless as they sought to overcome a disciplined and well organised five-man defence, spurning a handful of opportunities.
Continue reading...Southampton 0-5 Tottenham: Premier League – as it happened
Five first-half goals give Spurs thumping win over hopeless Southampton, whose fans turned on manager Russell Martin
This has a bit of a desperate feel to it. Both managers on TNT were doing their best to mask their anxiety (at least that’s my pop psychology take). They know that the ice below their feet is getting thinner.
The players are now making their way out the tunnel. All the noise, all the pressure, all the injuries and absentees, this could be anything.
Continue reading...Manchester City 1-2 Manchester United: Premier League – as it happened
Two goals in the last few minutes saw Manchester United steal victory in a high-drama, low-quality derby
An email! “Looks like City’s injury crisis is really starting to bite, with just £200m of talent on the bench,” writes Tim Woods. “Still, as a Liverpool fan I find myself in that rare position of hoping for a United win. Despite their troubles, I still fear City can put together a 25-game winning run to deny us (or Chelsea) the title once again.” Obviously I’m completely impartial, but it would be nice if a different team won the league for a change. Four in a row and six out of seven is quite enough for the time being.
It’s only a few months since United’s then manager, Erik ten Hag, described the idea of Rashford being dropped as “crazy”, and that “I would almost say that, as a person, you are not OK when you bring such speculation … I’m very happy with Marcus, with everything. With his defending part, offensive, he performs very good.”
Continue reading...Amad Diallo seals Manchester United’s late derby turnaround win to stun City
When Ruben Amorim oversaw his previous victory over Manchester City – with his old club Sporting in the Champions League – it was to push the reigning Premier League champions towards crisis. That was in early November and it was City’s third defeat on the spin.
As Amorim repeated the trick here, it was to pep up his new project at Manchester United and leave Pep Guardiola on his knees. There seems no way out of the misery for the City manager, this an eighth defeat in 11 matches in all competitions, the decline of his all-conquering team stark and extraordinary.
Continue reading...Championship: Burnley bounce back to sink Norwich and retake third
- Josh Brownhill fires second-half winner for Clarets
- Vakoun Bayo doubles up as Watford beat West Brom
Burnley recovered from the shock of conceding a goal after just 64 seconds to reclaim third place in the Championship by beating Norwich with a 2-1 comeback victory at Carrow Road, while Watford won by the same score at home to West Brom.
The Norwich defender José Cordoba headed home his first goal in English football to give his side a dream start, but the visitors hit back in impressive fashion after the break to take home maximum points. The substitute Zian Flemming’s brilliant long-range strike levelled it for the Clarets midway through the second period and another emphatic finish from Josh Brownhill settled the issued eight minutes later.
Continue reading...Championship roundup: Bellingham hits winner as Sunderland battle back
- Sunderland overturn two-goal deficit at Swansea
- Sheffield United on top after 2-0 win over Plymouth
Sunderland overturned a two-goal deficit to win a 3-2 thriller at Swansea and climb to third place in the Championship. Swansea established a healthy lead inside 17 minutes as Zan Vipotnik volleyed home and Liam Cullen dispatched a fabulous free-kick, but Sunderland levelled through Dan Ballard and Dan Neil – whose previous goals both came in a 2-1 victory against West Brom over 12 months ago. Jobe Bellingham then claimed the winner with his third of the season.
The win moved Sunderland to within two points of second-placed Leeds who were held to a 1-1 draw at Preston. Brad Potts put Preston ahead in the 23rd minute but an unfortunate own goal from substitute Jack Whatmough in injury time saved Leeds a point.
Continue reading...European football: Bayern Munich slip up at Mainz as Leverkusen close gap
- Leverkusen four points behind after win at Augsburg
- Real Madrid drop points despite Jude Bellingham goal
Lee Jae-sung scored either side of the break as Mainz stunned Bayern Munich 2-1 on Saturday to end the league leaders’ unbeaten start as their advantage at the top was cut to four points.
Lee struck four minutes before the break, the South Korea international pouncing on a defensive blunder by the lacklustre visitors. The 32-year-old then doubled the hosts’ lead on the hour, turning beautifully in the box to finish a superb attacking move that left the Bayern defence frozen to the spot.
Continue reading...Liverpool 2-2 Fulham, Arsenal 0-0 Everton: Premier League clockwatch – as it happened
Arne Slot’s ten men rescued a late point at Anfield, Arsenal were frustrated and Ipswich piled more pain on Gary O’Neil
Arsenal 0-0 Everton. A fast start for the hosts, with the sheer presence of Bukayo Saka causing the dithering Jordan Pickford angst. The keeper sorts himself out just in time. Then he claims a Declan Rice corner. “Greetings from Free State California,” writes Mary Waltz. “It’s pitch dark, pouring rain, the perfect surroundings for watching my Everton march into the Arsenal home ground. Not feeling especially optimistic but who knows … who am I kidding, it’s going to be ugly. Sigh.”
Liverpool 0-0 Fulham. Andy Robertson has taken an early knock on the knee, courtesy of Issa Diop, who goes into the book. Robertson’s up and about, but took a while to get back onto his feet. A concern for the hosts at Anfield.
Continue reading...Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez: ‘Everything has changed quickly. It’s a bit crazy’
Hungarian defender is, like his club, a bundle of energy with grand ambitions – and he wants to build a lake
A broad smile unravels on Milos Kerkez’s babyface as he watches a clip of himself doing what he probably does best: putting his body on the line for the cause, in this case his previous club, AZ. It was May last year, deep into a 3-0 Eredivisie win at Nijmegen, when the ball squirted free after he executed an expert slide tackle on the touchline. Having gone to ground, Kerkez was surely at a disadvantage to beat Anthony Musaba to the punch?
“My teammate Tijjani Reijnders went: ‘No, no!’ I was like: ‘I have to do something,’” says the Bournemouth defender. So Kerkez, on his backside, scrambles towards the ball, throwing his body at it, twirling mid-air like a commando, to block and retain possession. “I wanted to hit it with my head but it came off my back. I mean, it’s still a good tackle, no?”
Continue reading...Whitecaps Owners Retain Goldman Sachs to Sell MLS Franchise
The Vancouver Whitecaps are for sale. The owners of the MLS team, a group that includes majority holder Greg Kerfoot, executive chair Jeff Mallett, Steve Luczo and former NBA star Steve Nash, said Friday they have retained Goldman Sachs to assist with the process. Sportico valued the club at $470 million back in January, which …
Højlund double seals comeback win for Manchester United over Viktoria Plzen
Rasmus Højlund’s double secured Manchester United a much-needed 2-1 comeback victory in the Europa League at Viktoria Plzen as Ruben Amorim registered his first away win as head coach.
After making a promising start to life as Erik ten Hag’s successor, things were thrown off track as the shock exit of sporting director Dan Ashworth compounded back-to-back defeats to Arsenal and Nottingham Forest.
Continue reading...Juventus 2-0 Manchester City: Champions League – as it happened
Manchester City slipped to a seventh defeat in 10 games as Juventus ended their run of draws thanks to two second-half goals
3 mins: City have had the ball for almost all the game thus far, and they eventually work it to De Bruyne on the right. Di Gregorio catches his cross.
1 min: City have kicked off, and immediately gone route one, Ederson pumping a long ball downfield and winning a throw-in as a result.
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