A FEW week ago, after Arsenal had won at Old Trafford, the backside seemed to be dropping out of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s world. Manchester United had been beaten by Crystal Palace, Tottenham and Arsenal at home and the knives were out. Now, some 11 games later, United are top of the Premier League, they are […]
IT SEEMS amazing that it took until 1985 for Juventus to win their first European Cup. They had gone close prior to that, losing 1-0 in both 1973 (Ajax) and 1983 (Hamburg), but they invariably under-achieved in the competition. Sadly, the achievement was overshadowed by the death of 39 Juventus fans in Brussels, caused by […]
ARSENAL are having a tortuous 2020-21, a season that could end with inexperienced coach Mikel Arteta being sacked after little over a year in charge at the Emirates. Arsenal’s decline started long before Arteta was given the job, the club’s fall from Champions League regulars to Thursday night European football has been gradual, but their […]
JOSÉ Mourinho, typically, told his opposite number, the dentist’s dream that is Jürgen Klopp, that the best team had been beaten in the top-of-the-table clash at Anfield. Klopp, still grinning, was mystified and made light of it, and thanks to his perpetual bonhomie, the flame of controversy was extinguished. He’s a big fellow, is Klopp, […]
IN 1972, Maurice Golesworthy published a book that celebrated the league champions from 1888-1972. Game of the People is taking up the story from where he left off. After going close to winning the championship in 1971-72, finishing just one point behind champions Derby County, Liverpool clinched their eighth Football League title in April 1973. […]
IN ALL probability, Manchester City and Liverpool will be “there or thereabouts” come the end of the 2020-21 season, but in these early weeks of another strange campaign, it is clear both sides currently lack some dynamism. In short, Liverpool’s defence and City’s attack seem to be the main problems, but there was something a […]
IN A UPTOPIAN world, football clubs would represent the towns they come from and their players would be locally-reared, devoted to their places of birth and loyal to their clubs. The world has changed: in Victorian England that may have be the case, an age where someone from a neighbouring town would be treated much […]
WHOEVER advised Liverpool and Manchester United to propose a reset of the Premier League/EFL couldn’t possible have known too much about the culture of football in Britain, indeed Europe. Why on earth did these clubs, supposedly two of the most emotionally-driven football institutions in the world, think they would get away with launching a power […]
LIVERPOOL’s crushing 7-2 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa may turn out to be a freak result, but it certainly highlighted the need for clubs to employ more than one goalkeeper at the top of his game. Adrián may not have been the reason Liverpool shipped seven goals, indeed the entire defence looked complacent […]
