Sports Category
Sports news, commentary and scores with wit and added value. We compare and contrast the best and worst sports reporting in the mainstream press, blogs, TV and online. We love the English Premier League (Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, Manchester United and Manchester City) and all things football but we cover cricket, rugby, the Olympics, tennis, golf, F1 and highlights of the sporting year.
Steve Smith quits Australia cricket captaincy role
Smith Smith is no longer captain of the Australian cricket team. His deputy David Warner has also stepped down. Both players cheated and got found out. Smith admitted that the team’s “leadership group” had discussed a plot to tamper with the ball in the Test series against South Africa. Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera on the third day of the third Test between in Cape Town taking a yellow tape from his pocket before rubbing the ball. Aware he;d been spotted, he then stuffed the tape down his trousers.
“We had a discussion during the [lunch] break and I saw an opportunity to use some tape, get some granules from the rough patches on the wickets and change the condition,” said Bancroft. “It didn’t work. The umpires didn’t change the ball. Once I was sighted on the screen I panicked quite a lot and that’s why I shoved it [a piece of sticky tape] down my trousers.”
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was upset. “I am shocked and bitterly disappointed by the news from South Africa,” said Turnbull. “It seems beyond belief the Australian cricket team have been involved in cheating. Our cricketers are role models and cricket is synonymous with fair play. How can our team be engaged in cheating like this? It beggars belief.”
Role models. Haha. No. They’re not. But they are cheats.
Zlatan Ibrahimovich hails his move from Manchester United to LA Galaxy with full-page ad in LA Times newspaper
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has paid for a full-page advert in today’s LA Times newspaper to hail his arrival in the US of A. Earlier this week, Manchester United ripped up Zlatan’s contract, allowing him to sign a two-year deal with LA Galaxy. He’s still’s full of swagger, but is the 36-year-old Ibra worth it?
He might well be. With 33 top trophies in his cabinet, Ibrahimovic has aged well. Since his 30th birthday, Zlatan has scored – get his – 251 goals. Didier Drogba scored 141. Teddy Sheringham scored 124. Before turning 30, he scored 232. Ibrahimovic has scored ten or more league goals in every season from 2006/07 to 2016/17.
All hail, Zlatan, then.
Posted: 23rd, March 2018 | In: manchester united, News, Sports | Comment
Liverpool: James Milner tweets his ironing
James Milner, the Liverpool player, has tweeted a photo of himself doing a very James Miler thing: he’s ironing a T-shirt. It really is James Milner and not the famous joke Twitter account “Boring James Milner” that updates its hundreds of thousands of followers with news of him sorting his cupboards, lining up his socks and, yep, ironing.
#TBT to yesterday…. when I wasn’t on Twitter! 👋🏻 pic.twitter.com/TJy4RxHZJx
— James Milner (@JamesMilner) March 22, 2018
Looks like Milner, the super-focused footballer has a sense of humour.
He’s also a lesson in now drive and ultra-professionalism can take a player to the top of the game. Here are few words from people who’ve worked with ‘boring” James Milner:
Roy Hodgson: ”We know what James will do. James isn’t and doesn’t pretend to be as exciting as some of the wingers we sometimes use these days.”
Steven Weeks, who taught Milner at school: ”James is still exactly the same really nice, calm, quiet, totally unassuming, popular lad he was at school but I always thought that, inside, he had the sort of controlled aggression that takes people to the very top.”
Glenn Roeder: “James can seem a goody two shoes but he deserves every bit of success going. Unlike the vast majority of professional footballers he works to his maximum and extracts every last ounce of ability.”
Posted: 23rd, March 2018 | In: Liverpool, News, Sports | Comment
Arsenal told Jack Wilshere he could leave last summer
Jack Wilshere has still not committed his future to Arsenal, the club he joined at age nine. Wilshere, 26, will be out of contract at the end of the current season, in which he has made 31 appearances to date – the most in a season since 2013-14. The Gunners have offered him a new deal on reduced terms – he’ll have to accept a pay cut on his £120,000-a-week salary. He wants a better deal. And he wants to stay.
“I have got three months left on my contract,” he says. “Ideally, yes, I want it sorted as soon as possible. I want to go to the World Cup and enjoy it but we have three months until then and a lot can happen. Ideally from my point of view and the club’s point of view, they will probably want it sorted.”
He might have left the club last summer.
“He [Arsene Wenger] gave me the opportunity [to leave] with three or four weeks left in the transfer window,” says Wilshere from the England team base. It will be Wilshere’s first outing for England since that 1-0 defeat to Iceland in Euro 2016.
“I did not find anything that I wanted and at the same time I was not really fit, so I decided that I wanted to stay and build up my fitness. It was an honest conversation. We have known each other long enough where we can have that relationship where we are honest with each other. It was boiling up for a while because everybody knew I had a year left on my deal and I had been out on loan, got injured, and wasn’t really in his plans. He said, ‘I am going to be honest with you and at the moment we are not going to be offering you a contract, so if you can get a contract somewhere else, you can go’. Obviously I was not happy with that, but at the same time I was happy he was being honest.”
Determined and cock-sure, Wilshere is the kind of player Arsenal need more of.
Posted: 22nd, March 2018 | In: Arsenal, News, Sports | Comment
The greatest dive in football: Jean Meneses hits invisible force field
To Chile, where Universidad de Concepcion forward Jean Meneses is taking an interesting tumble in the box, having encountered an invisible force field. He does not go to ground easily. He opts for complexity.
Let’s set the scene. The game between Universidad de Concepcion and Colo Colo is 1-1. Five minutes normal time. Meneses, 25, is inside the Colo Colo box. He has the ball. And then he does not. Here it is:
And the Oscar goes to ….. Jean Meneses of Universidad de Concepcion pic.twitter.com/wV1RXuVcoU
— Lrrr (@coldplague) March 21, 2018
Penalty! Seriously. The referee awarded a penalty kick. Fernando Manriquez scored it. Universidad de Concepcion win the match 2-1.
Says Jean Meneses: “One has to take advantage of the fact that the forwards can not touch attackers inside the area. So I played a little bit with the vividness and I let myself fall.”
File unser: when gravity attacks!
Liverpool will sell Salah for a fortune and Chelsea are the biggest losers
Spare a thought for Chelsea fans forced to look on as club rejects Kevin Bruyne and Mohamed Salah light up the Premier League for Manchester City and Liverpool, respectively. Both players sold under Jose Mourinho’s regime are shining. Given Mourinho’s narcissism, he’s most likely try to pass his errors off as part of a cunning ploy to leave his former employer’s pained. But if he had foresight, Mourinho would have sold them to Manchester United, pushing Old Trafford towards investment in the coming force rather than selfish Alexis Sanchez – made to look better than he was by playing for a palsied Arsenal team – and the vastly overrated Paul Pogba.
News across the media is that Real Madrid rather like Salah. Those Spanish talent spotters have noted that the Egyptian scores lots of goals and looks a joy to be around. So excited are they by their discovery in the Premier League backwaters that Real will invest up to £200m in Salah. But news from Anfield is that Liverpool will spurn any moves for their star turn. They won’t, of course. Every player has a price. And £200m for Salah is an absurd sum for a £34million summer signing from Roma.
The problem for Liverpool is that Salah is the star of a team which will probably win nothing.
Posted: 21st, March 2018 | In: Chelsea, Manchester City, manchester united, News, Sports | Comment
Spurs Harry Kane is worth more than Barcelona’s Messi
The CIES Football Observatory has crunched the data and concluded that Spurs striker Harry Kane is worth more in the transfer market than Barcelona’s Lionel Messi. Total balls.
No disrespect to Kane, but how many football fans will boast “I saw Harry Kane”? To see Messi in the flesh is to witness something extraordinary, a player who lifts the spirits. A friend from Napoli interjected a pub debate on which top player we’d all enjoyed watching live. Names poured out: Thierry Henry, Eric Cantona, Johan Cruyff, Franco Baresi, Ziendine Zidane and Franz Beckenbauer. He raised his hands and if spelling out a neon sign above the door to the star attraction, move them from left to right as he declared: “I saw Maradona.”
Messi is better. He is also, as one sports writer notes, the cure: “Some weeks especially we need to plunge head-first into the joys of sport after fretting about the contents of a Jiffy bag or whether England fans will be targeted by thugs in Russia or if a pundit should be sacked for gobbing at a fan…Messi is the best antidote to any creep of dissatisfaction.”
But away from the thrill of live action, in an office block in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, the boffins at CIES have calculated not only Messi’s monetary value but how he ranks against other players in England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France. The challenge is to decide which player represents the best investment for their current club. Kane, who cost Spurs nothing to recruit, is worth £173m (€198.2m); Messi, who joined Barcelona as as child, is worth £172m (€196.8m).
CIES explains its method:
The estimated values are calculated using an exclusive algorithm conceived by the CIES Football Observatory research team. An increasing number of professional clubs and football intermediaries have recourse to the approach developed for transfer negotiations and litigation. The estimations for all big-5 league players are available here.
Here’s the list of talent;
So Kane is worth more than Messi – but only if you reduce football to a sport best watched via screens, accessed through a betting app and broken down to the raw data, reducing every aspect of humanity into quantifiable, anodyne chunks. One day they’ll bring all the greats back to their pomp with a new software package, and show us if Bobby Charlton and Pele were better than Ronaldo and Messi. The fans, meanwhile, should save up for something far more vital: a ticket to see Messi play live.
Posted: 20th, March 2018 | In: News, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Activists says PE and team sports are racist colonialism
The latest from the grievance studies industry is that team sports – those English things like football, rugby, cricket – are racist. Further, that we only let the rest of the world play them so they could beat us as an act of colonialism. The problem with this being not the basic facts at issue. For the English, perhaps the British, did indeed invent many of the sports which are now played globally. And there was most certainly an element of exporting the games as a part of civilising the savage natives of other lands. You know, like teaching the French rugby will make them gentlemen. Teaching the Welsh the game will make them something even if not gentlemen.
The problem with the idea though is that it’s entirely missed the proper, Marxist, interpretation of what happened:
Analyses of curricula in a range of countries show how they tend to reinforce, rather than challenge, popular theories of racism. To date, we know little about the contribution of physical education (PE) curriculum policy to the overall policy landscape. This paper examines the construction of race and racism in two national contexts (Norway and England) as a means of putting race and anti-racism on the PE policy research agenda. It adopts a critical whiteness perspective to analyse how whiteness, as a system of privilege, contributes to the racialisation of valued knowledge in PE and asks, who potentially benefits and/or is marginalised within the learning spaces available in the texts? The discourse analysis reveals that two discursive techniques of whiteness combine to privilege white, Eurocentric knowledge content.
Yeah, yeah, we know how that ends, Whitey’s a Bad Boy and a colonialist to boot. Tsk.
But that is to use today’s unthinking Marxism – the identifying feature of which is not to think and not to use actual Marx – to explain matters, rather than actual Marx and or thinking.
Marx himself said two things which explains matters here. The first is that the mode of production determines social relations. How what is produced tells us a great deal about how the society is going to be organised. The second is that capitalism, as harnessed by the bourgeoisie, was the most productive economic system as yet used.
It’s not a big step and it’s most certainly a usefully Marxist one to go on to say that the much greater productivity of the capitalist economy was going to change the society. Which, of course, it did. One of the most obvious ways it did was to make the workers rich enough that they didn’t have to work every moment of every day in order to just stay alive. That Industrial Revolution is what brought us the concept of leisure. An example of which is why football matches start at 3 pm on a Saturday. Because it was still into hte working lives of those living today that Saturdays were a half day up in those Satanic Mills.
All of which tells us why it was those White Victorians who invented most of the games. They were the first people to live in a society which had the time – and thus the inclination – to actually have regular games. Either to play or to spectate. And that’s really it.
As to the exportation, we did export that Industrial Revolution which created that leisure. And the wealth which the industrialisation creates. It’s really not a surprise that as places got rich enough to have the time for sports then they adopted those sports that were already played in the richer places.
So, yes, many sports are British in origin. But not because of racism or even colonialism. Purely and simply because Britain was the first place to be rich enough to have large scale organised sports. As other places got richer they copied the sports as well as the methods of getting rich. No racism nor colonialism involved.
Manchester United are not getting rid of 10 players this summer
Fancy making a guess at how many players are heading out of Manchester United this summer? The BBC says it’s ’10’. the source for the Beeb’s news of this mass exodus of talent is the ever-trusty Daily Express. The Express, of course, is riding high on the back of its scoop that this winter would feature cold weather and snow. Sure enough, the UK was gipped by the ‘Beast from the East’. Yes, the paper forecasts bad weather on its front page around twice a week but this time it was right. It might well be right again – Madeleine McCann will be found; dementia will be cured with rhubarb; the summer will bring a heatwave; and ten footballers will leave Old Trafford at the end of the season.
The Express lists the players heading to the exit: Luke Shaw, Juan Mata, Ander Herrera, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Daley Blind, Matteo Darmian, Marouane Fellaini, Michael Carrick and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. It then tells us that the ten will be replaced with just five: Gareth Bale, Toby Alderweireld, Danny Rose, Willian and Fred. Will that happen? Reason says no. But we did have that snow…
Of course, in the clickbait world of online journalism, pretty much any claim, however outlandish, can be countered by another outlandish claim, So here’s the Metro to tell us that Fred has already agreed to join Manchester City:
And if you don’t believe the Metro, well, you know who else told us Fred is on his way to City? Yep. The Express:
Daily Express, Feb 9 1018
The Express offers no source for its story of ten players leaving United. But over in the Sun, we read: “Manchester United reportedly set for summer clear out with Luke Shaw, Ander Herrera, Chris Smalling and Anthony Martial among NINE facing axe’”. The Sun does cite a source: the Daily Mail. And it reports:
Luke Shaw may as well start planning a joint leaving-do with Matteo Darmian and Daley Blind this summer…
Ander Herrera, Anthony Martial, Juan Mata and Chris Smalling are among those who cannot guarantee they will be at Old Trafford beyond this summer, when United will also have to replace Marouane Fellaini and Michael Carrick.
And from that the Express got its scoop of ten players leaving Manchester United.
Now… anyone know if it’s going to be sunny this July?
Posted: 19th, March 2018 | In: Back pages, manchester united, News, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Luke Shaw attack splits Manchester United dressing room
Jose Mourinho says he wants to build a legacy at Manchester United. Nothing about his past suggests that he will. Mourinho leaves clubs spent and exhausted. He’s never lasted more than three years in one place.
One player tired of the tiresome manager is full-back Luke Shaw. Mourinho thought it right once again to criticise Shaw in public following United’s FA Cup win over Brighton on Saturday.
A fit Shaw was substituted at half-time. Mourinho says Shaw and fellow full-back Antonio Valencia failed to follow his tactical instructions. “I could have changed both of them at half-time.,” said Mourinho. “…I had to change one and I chose Luke because at least Antonio defensively was capable of good positioning. Luke, in the first half, every time they came in his corridor, the cross came in and a dangerous situation was coming. I was not happy with his performance.”
Reports suggest United players think Shaw is being “bullied” by his pouting manager. Mourinho says only Nemanja Matic and Romelu Lukaku – the goalscorers against Brighton – would escape his anger. The rest possessed “a lack of personality, lack of class and lack of desire”. When you get schooled in class by Mourinho, you give Dr Eva Carneiro the side eye and check your finger for bits of eyeball.
“I didn’t have many managers in my life but he is special because he wants to win always,” says Matic, in full teacher’s pet mode. “You can see when we lose a game he cannot accept that. Probably that’s why he won more than 20 trophies in his life. It is very difficult to work with him because he always wants more and more. Even if you win the league he wants to win again next season. He is like this and the players need to be ready for that. Because at this high level, at Manchester United and where I used to play Chelsea, the players need to be ready for that because the pressure is big. Everyone expects you to win every game. Obviously it is not possible, but supporters always expect. It doesn’t matter if you are tired or not, supporters want high quality football. It is normal.”
He had us up to ‘high quality’. Mourinho’s win at all costs approach is anathema to the so-called Manchester United way. At Chelsea and Inter Milan, success-starved clubs with no adherence to a style, Mourinho delivering silverware was the be all. Does grinding out a result work at United?
Alex Ferguson used to give under-performing players a blast of the ‘hairdryer’. But always in private. Mourinho makes it all about him. In reviewing Mourinho’s turgid 12-minute speech delivered after United’s defeat to Sevilla in the Champions League, Oliver Holt spoke for many:
Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address lasted two minutes. Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech lasted 17 minutes. John F Kennedy’s Inauguration Speech lasted 14 minutes. Winston Churchill’s ‘Fight on the Beaches’ speech lasted 34 minutes.
Acclaimed as football’s answer to all of them, Jose Mourinho’s self-serving, self-aggrandising, self-regarding, self-pitying, melodramatic, hard-luck claptrap that passed for his attempt at oratory on Friday afternoon lasted 12 minutes. His only theme was Jose Mourinho. He used his moment on the stage to deliver a homage to himself.
Ask not what Mourinho can do for Manchester United but what Manchester United can do for him. His was a dystopian vision of a great football club as a vehicle for a narcissist. His was a speech that denigrated United so that he could vindicate himself. Some managers subjugate themselves to their clubs. Mourinho asks that the club subjugates itself to him.
Holt’s a United fan. They want better.
Posted: 19th, March 2018 | In: manchester united, News, Sports | Comment
FA Cup fail: BBC announce Manchester United to play Chelsea and Spurs
And to the live draw for the FA Cup semi-final. Lynsey Hipgrave is the designated BBC blonde sports presenter tasked with announcing the matches. The balls are pulled from U-bend beneath the FA Cup plug hole by Gianfranco Zola and Petr Cech.
The numbers in the hat are – and if anyone knows the method behind the numbering, do tell:
1 – Tottenham
2 – Manchester United
3 – Chelsea
4 – Southampton
They come out in order: 2, 1, 3, 4.
It’s Manchester United v Tottenham. It’s Chelsea v Southampton. Or as Hipgrave puts it: it’s Spurs v Southampton. It’s Man United v Chelsea.
It’s a fix! @lynseyhipgrave1 reads out Spurs vs Southampton and Chelsea vs Man Utd as FA Cup semis. Balls were oddly numbered, not alphabetical. This goes right to the top! #facupdraw pic.twitter.com/j7jP6zBGmF
— Jme (@jmewhyte) March 18, 2018
You had one job.
Posted: 18th, March 2018 | In: Chelsea, manchester united, News, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Danny Welbeck has now dived for Arsenal and Manchester United – now for England
‘The dive gets a big fat 0. Nothing can excuse it, embarrassing,” wrote the Daily Mirror’s John Cross in his awarding of player scores at the end of Arsenal’s Europa League victory over AC Milan. The Sun gave Welbeck 9/10, not mentioning what Cross called Welbeck’s “blatant dive to win a penalty”. Italy’s Corriere della Sera delivered its match verdict: “Affondati da un tuffo” (“Sunk by a dive”).
Welbeck will discover tomorrow whether he will face any retrospective action for that alleged dive. Uefa hold an option to act if the match referee or delegate raise concerns. But there is no word that anyone has done. The Football Association has the power to review the cheating and ban divers for two games. More power to the FA. But they matter not in this instance.
It’s all rather dispiriting. England players diving is all the rage. Gareth Southgate’s latest England squad features the following forwards: persistant diver Dele Alli, Raheem Sterling (“We know that Raheem Sterling dives well, he does that very well” – Arsene Wenger), Danny Welbeck, slippery-booted Jamie Vardy and Marcus Rashford.
As Daniel Taylor notes: “Raheem Sterling and Jamie Vardy have made an art form of initiating contact with the defender and then going down in the penalty area. Marcus Rashford’s dive to win a penalty against Swansea last season was one of the reasons why the FA beefed up its rules.”
Here’s Welbeck playing for Manchester United against Wigan in 2012:
Diving is a horror. But not enough is being done to end it. The players don’t care. The media admires it – Corriere dello Sport actually made Welbeck man of the match. And the clubs just see it as a marketing opportunity:
📊 Lots of protestations from the @acmilan players when we were given our spot-kick…
Would you have awarded a penalty?#AFCvACM
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) March 15, 2018
Carry on diving, then.
Posted: 18th, March 2018 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, News, Sports | Comment
Liverpool balls: no comment from United Nations On Carragher spit – yet
The Daily Mirror leads with a photo of former Liverpool player Jamie Carragher gobbing at a 14-year -old Manchester United fan. And it will not rest until every molecule of water in Carragher’s spit has earned its own headline on the paper’s clickbait-heavy website. There are 1.674 x 1021 molecules of water in a drop of water. That’s a lot. But the Mirror has embarked on its mission with gusto.
There is no word on the incident – yet – from the UN, the Pope, Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn, Prince William and other great moralisers on how Carragher’s flob epitomises the great societal ills at the heart of football, the working-class people who still follow the game and society. But when they do comment, the Mirror will top and tail the words into sensation.
The following news stories have been broken on the Mirror’s website:
Sky Sports to hold talks with Jamie Carragher after Liverpool legend’s “unacceptable behaviour” in spit storm
”Inexcusable!” – Liverpool fans condemn Jamie Carragher after Reds legend caught up in spitting storm
”Vile and disgusting” Jamie Carragher’s previous comments about spitting come back to haunt him after incident with Man United fan
Spit row pundit Jamie Carragher needs to learn that with great privilege comes great responsibility, says Alison Phillips
Lorraine Kelly slams ‘horrible’ Jamie Carragher after he was filmed spitting at 14-year-old football fan: “It’s not acceptable”
Jamie Carragher breaks cover for first time since spit storm as he prepares for showdown talks with Sky Sports
“Filth!” Vinnie Jones wants Jamie Carragher sacked and reveals what he’d have done if he spat at his daughter
“I didn’t see her”: Jamie Carragher claims girl was out of sight after he was filmed spitting at 14-year-old and her dad
Jamie Carragher backed by former Liverpool team-mate after spitting at Manchester United fan and young daughter
“You couldn’t make it up!” Football fans take aim at Joey Barton as he hits out at Jamie Carragher for spitting at fan
Danny Murphy reveals conversation with Jamie Carragher following Liverpool legend’s spitting storm
Richard Keys reacts to Jamie Carragher spit storm after former Sky Sports anchor was sacked for sexist remarks
Jamie Carragher arrives in London ahead of Sky Sports showdown talks after spitting at fan and 14-year-old daughter
Big debate: Who should replace Jamie Carragher as MNF pundit if he gets the boot after his spitting shame?
Jamie Carragher is removed from first TV pundit role after spitting at Manchester United fan and 14-year-old daughter
Billy Joe Saunders blasts Jamie Carragher for spit shame, branding former Liverpool star a “sick w*****”
Jamie Carragher fans trying to justify his spitting are the worst sort of football supporters – you can’t excuse the inexcusable
Gary Neville backs Sky Sports colleague Jamie Carragher after spitting shame and insists it “shouldn’t stop us working together”
Jamie Carragher forced to watch moment he spat at football fan and 14-year-old girl during Sky interview
Jamie Carragher suspended by Sky Sports after spitting at football fan and 14-year-old daughter
Manchester United fans make brilliant Michael Carrick suggestion as Jamie Carragher is suspended by Sky Sports
Jamie Carragher apology: Full transcript as Sky Sports pundit admits ‘disgust’ with himself over spit shame
Why Sky Sports have cut Monday Night Football by half an hour after Jamie Carragher spit storm
Monday Night Football without Jamie Carragher – live updates as Sky Sports suspend pundit following spitting video
Police to quiz father of Jamie Carragher spitting victim because he filmed football pundit while driving
Sky Sports presenter Dave Jones’ cheeky last remark as MNF FINALLY reference Jamie Carragher spit storm
Gary Lineker’s Jamie Carragher tweet sparks row with Sky Sports’ Geoff Shreeves
Body language expert analyses Jamie Carragher’s live TV apology following spit shame
Jamie Carragher spits at football fan and his 14-year-old daughter in shocking video following Liverpool’s defeat to Manchester United
Jamie Carragher’s former Liverpool teammate hints at personal turmoil behind spitting shame
John Arne Riise urges people to “move on” following Jamie Carragher’s spit shame
Spotter: Football 365
Posted: 13th, March 2018 | In: Back pages, Liverpool, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Former Arsenal star sent off as life imitates Wotsits
Referee Dean Hulme asked former Arsenal player Sanchez Watt for his name. Watt, playing for Hemel Hempstead Town in a National League South game against East Thurrock United was going into the ref’s book.
“Watt,” said the 27-year-old. Hulme believed he was saying “what?” and sent him off for dissent. The card was soon rescinded.
“It was a human error,” Hemel Hempstead chairman Dave Boggins told BBC Sport. “The referee was man enough to rectify it. I think everybody found it amusing afterwards – including the referee. He came into the boardroom after the game and explained how he had made the mistake. He was very apologetic and saw the funny side of it. He was a good ref on the night to be fair to him.”
Watt a Wally:
Posted: 7th, March 2018 | In: Arsenal, News, Sports | Comment
Arsenal shocker: 12% of Gooners want Wenger to stay
Don’t open those eyes yet, Arsenal fans: Arsene Wenger is still there. But the Arsenal Supporters Trust (AST) has done its bit to defenestrate the manager and prick a supine, greedy board and absentee owner into action. AST members voted overwhelmingly against the Frenchman remaining as manager beyond the end of this season.
A whopping 88% of fans responded to an AST survey saying that they do not support Wenger continuing in charge for another season – last year it was 78%, and Arsenal still gave him a new two-year deal.
As Arsenal FC go full ostrich, we can marvel that 12% of Gooners want Wenger to stay. The same 12% also consider that dream of being tied naked to Nelson’s Column and forced to watch Gary Linker discuss Spurs matches to be the best they’ve ever had. Masochists, eh, they’ve never suffered enough.
Meanwhile, the Times says Wenger spent the hours after Arsenal’s defeat to the mighty Brighton telling his coaching staff that he is “the best man to take Arsenal forward”. He will not break his contract. So Arsenal will have to sack him.
Over to the hapless Ivan Gazidis, then, the Arsenal chief executive. The AST will hand him the results of its survey at a fans’ forum ahead of the match against Watford on Sunday. The meeting promises to be more interesting than the match.
Posted: 6th, March 2018 | In: Arsenal, News, Sports | Comment
Betting on Germany to win the World Cup
SPONSORED POST: Can Germany win 2 World Cups in a row?
Germany is one of the most powerful teams in the world. In Brazil they proved to be an unstoppable machine. The players were on a level superior to any other team. The work that Joachim Löw has done all these years with Germany has been incredible, since Germany did not win a world cup since 1990. When Germany won in Brazil, it was shown to the world that the team was back and in the best shape. But can they do it again for the World Cup 2018 in Russia?
Reviewing the story: Germany and the World Cups
Germany has won the FIFA World Cup 4 times. The first was in 1954 (in Switzerland) against Hungary 3-2; the second World Cup at home was in 1974 (in Germany) against Holland 2-1; the third one was in 1990 (in Italy) against Argentina 1-0; and as we all know in 2014, Germany returned to beat Argentina 1-0 to stay with another World Cup.
The real possibilities of Germany: An impressive squad
Germany has almost completed the list of players that will be in the World Cup, thanks to the diversity of players that Germany has the possibilities of building a solid team strategically based on the best players in the country, for example we can build a team with: Neuer, Hector, Hummels, Boateng, Kimmich, Kross (who may join Paris and Neymar next season), Khedira, Reus, Ozil, Muller, Werner or Gomez. This option is one of the most likely with some modifications.
The game of Germany has always been solid, this year, the team had some friendlies matches in March 2018. The first was against Brazil, the surprise of Germany was having lost by a single goal against Brazil, but the advantage was in favor of Brazil since Germany did not have the best players available, they are only trying new strategies and different players, despite everything they could keep the result 1-0.
The last friendly was against Spain, the match ended 1-1. This match was more leveled, since Germany and Spain used most of the players that will be available in the World Cup. Spain had in the field of play Iniesta, Isco, Pique, among others.
Joachim Löw did not want Germany to show all its power in the friendlies, after finishing third in Eurocup, the mystery has been increasing in terms of the line-up that Germany showed in the World Cup.
The group of Germany in the world cup: Easy to move to the next round.
Germany is very lucky in Group F, it is a relatively easy group, but the teams within the group do not want to lose the matches, since Mexico and Sweden usually play with everything until the last minute, especially Sweden, the Swedish team is one of the most dangerous with 11 participations in the world cup, in addition they were the culprits of which Italy remained without World Cup after more than 50 years.
In Bet365 and other bookies Germany is offered with an average of 1.33 in odds, it is an offer for Germany to finish first in the group or winner of Group F. The other interesting bet is whether Germany would pass to the next round Yes / No, 1.08 and 8.00, the option of Do not pay up to £ 800 pounds if Germany does not move to the next round, but it is unlikely.
The odds in the bookies: Germany is almost favorite
Germany is offered as the winner of the world cup with 5.50 in odds. It is not the first option in most of the bookies since Brazil is a renewed team that has shown power and has better strategy. The only problem is that Germany is a much better team than Brazil. The third team is Spain with 7.00 odds, France with 7.50 and Argentina with 10.00.
The best betting options for Germany in the World Cup.
Straight Winner: 5.50 in odds, Germany has high potential to win the world cup, this offer in odds is one of the highest for Germany in the world cup.
Runner Up: 6.50 second place is not a bad idea, the offer is in almost all bookies like Bet365, Ladbrokes and William Hill, but losing the final is below 50% chance for Germany.
Group 1-2: This option is tempting, the combination goes from Germany – Mexico or Sweden – Germany, among other combinations. The punter must predict who will be the first and second place in Group F where Germany is. The most likely is Germany – Sweden in 3.25 odds.
To reach the finals (Finalists): Germany – Brazil is one of the likely ones, with 13.00 in odds it is one of the most likely options to become a World Cup final, the second option but less likely is Germany – Argentina with a price of 41.00 in odds.
Reach the final (single team): Similar to the previous bet, but the punter should only predict if Germany reached the final, with 3.25 in odds is a reasonable option, Germany can reach the final, win or lose is a matter of result final. Another similar option is Reach Semifinals, with 2.00 in odds for Germany.
Reach Quarter Finals: This possibility is one of the most likely; reaching quarter finals is something that Germany has done many times, and prices are only above 1.50 in odds. They could face Belgium in the 1/4 finals. This match could be one of the most impressive of the World Cup as both team are filled with great players at every position on the pitch.
Can Germany win two world cups in a row? Sure, they can do it.
Germany has a 69% chance of winning another World Cup in Russia, according to casinogutscheincodes.de, a specialized website. The factors are in their favor: they are in Europe, while the South American teams will suffer from the cold weather and their performance will surely fall below, so Brazil does not have more than 60% chance to win the world cup, Argentina does not have a chance either, it is a team that has the best player in the world, but they do not have a strategy.
Germany will surely win this world cup, 5.50 odds seems a good price take it while it’s priced above 5.50 because when Löw shows the final line-up before the world cup starts it can go lower than that.
God’s own Alan Pardew gives West Bromwich Albion an easy ride and a prayer
Ever since Maradonna attributed his cheating to God, sceptics and religionists have been debating the divine one’s role in the beautiful game. Is Deli Alli lysing down a lot because he’s a modern day Lazarus, rather than a persistent cheat? Are the Red Devils scared of crosses? And here’s Alan Pardew reacting to West Brom’s team-building jaunt to Barcelona last week, which featured four senior players going on the lash, nicking a taxi in the early hours of the morning and joy-riding to McDonald’s before dumping it outside their team hotel.
Gareth Barry (36), Jonny Evans (30), Boaz Myhill (35) and Jake Livermore (28) were each fined two weeks’ wages for breaking the midnight curfew. Such is the tough line at West Brom that Barry and Evans were picked to play in the next match. Pardew explained all:
“He (Evans) has paid a heavy price for [his conduct]. Trust me. It’s like all things in life, if you make a mistake does that mean you are going to have to pay for it for the rest of your life? I don’t think so. I think God teaches us to forgive. On this occasion I wouldn’t say he’s been forgiven. But he’s paid a price and he’s still paying a price with you guys [the media], so he’ll learn that that was an event he deeply regrets as he lives on.
West Bromwich Albion are bottom of the Premier League, five points behind their closest rival. You’d think that arrogant players larking about, boozing and eating junk food less than ideal. But with the Rev. Pardew at the helm, the lads have a prayer.
Former Arsenal and Spurs star: ‘I’m one of the greatest minds in football’
Sol Campbell has been overlooked for the Oxford job. No, not the Oxford job that involves big lunches, bigger dinners and students. The other Oxford job – the one as manager of Oxford United FC. Although the former Spurs and Arsenal defender could have done both, probably. As he tells one and all: “I can’t believe some people. I’m one of the greatest minds in football and I’m wasted because of a lack of experience or maybe he talks his mind too much.”
Instead Oxford are looking at former Wales and Liverpool player Craig Bellamy.
“I did go [for the Oxford Unietd job] and they didn’t accept me,” Sol told Highbury & Heels. “Maybe it was a lack of experience, things like that, but it’s a full circle. Experience? How do I get experience? Well I need a job to get experience. I don’t want to go too low that it’s a struggle, and I don’t want to go too low that I’m under someone and thinking ‘what am I doing here?’ I would rather be managing a club myself.
“I’m confident and it’s not like it’s rocket science to run a football club, especially when you get to that level. If you’re intelligent enough and a quick learner you will learn pretty soon, within two or three games, what the team needs, training-wise, to survive in that league, get better in that league, to get in the play-offs or even win the league.
“I’m intelligent enough, it’s not like I played on a fox and dog pitch all my life. I can’t believe some people, I’m one of the greatest minds in football and I’m being wasted because of a lack of experience or ‘maybe he talks his mind too much’. Go to Germany, they love people who speak their minds. They got the jobs. I’m sorry that I’ve got a mind, but don’t be scared of that. That should be something you want at your club, but obviously not.”
Glenn Hoddle is away.
Posted: 22nd, February 2018 | In: Arsenal, News, Sports | Comment
Arsenal balls: Ramsey ready for Carabao Cup final
The Daily Express has news form the twilight zone of spots journalism: “Aaron Ramsey to miss Man City Carabao Cup final because of Arsene Wenger.” Jack Otway has news on just what Wenger has done to Ramsay, dealing a “hammer blow” to Arsenal’s chances of winning the trophy.
Reading on and we discover that Wenger has done…nothing. But we do get this:
The Sun say Arsene Wenger has already decided Ramsey will not be risked against Guardiola’s men.
Over in the Sun, then, for news of the “RAMBLOW”. Ramsey is “set miss Carabao Cup Final”. It’s an “exclusive”.
So Ramsay is out. But, hold on. Whose that training with the Gunners? The Express identifies him:
Spotted? The Express is happy to quote the Sun’s “exclusive” that Ramsay is out – defo – but forgot to mention the bit where the Sun says: “And though he has been working hard in training to prove his fitness for Wembley, boss Arsene Wenger is unwilling to gamble on the Welsh star.”
As the Express mines two clickbait stories from one Sun “exclusive”, Wenger tells media: “Ramsey is not in the squad for tomorrow [Arsenal’s Europa League Cup match]. He had a good training session but he is short for tomorrow. We will see how his evolution goes now until Sunday. I don’t rule him out yet. It depends how well he can improve the intensity of training.”
Such are the facts.
Posted: 22nd, February 2018 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, News, Sports | Comment
Arsenal balls: Lacazette’s talking knee changes time
With Trinity Mirror’s purchase of the Daily Express and Daily Star, football fans who get their news online can expect a tag-team movement of total balls. All titles use their websites as clickbait farms. The latest tosh involves Arsenal’s Alexandre Lacazette, who has, says the Mirror, “given an update on his recovery from a knee injury”.
In its dash for clicks, the Mirror tells readers approaching via Google’s bots that Lacazette is bidding “for a quick recovery” (as opposed to hoping for a slow recovery and lots of sick pay and daytime telly?), illustrating the teaser with a photo of Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin and, er, Robbie Lyle, presenter of the entertaining Arsenal Fan TV
Clicking into the story and readers are told Lacazette will be sidelined for “up to five weeks”. Arsene Wenger’s words to BeIn Sports that Lacazette could be out for “four or five weeks” are repeated. There’s no word on any “quick recovery”. That much is utter balls.
And then this spot some time illiteracy:
A return date on the pitch could occur against either West Ham on April 21 or Manchester United on April 28 with a return to first team training likely to begin at the start of April.
Lacazette underwent surgery on February 12. Four or five weeks after that take us up to mid March. Even if you add on a few days from the operation until Wenger spoke, Lacazette still looks likely to return well before April.
But having spun a nonsense story from a single photo of Lacazette’s poorly knee as he work out in the Arsenal gym – one taken by the player and posted to his Instagram page – the Mirror’s clickbait expert needs to hit his word count. So we get this:
Until Lacazette’s return, Wenger will put his faith in Aubameyang, though the Gabon striker is unable to help in their quest to win the Europa League. Despite overcoming Ostersund 3-0 in the first leg of the round of 32 tie, a probable last 16 tie will occur on March 8 and 13, with a potential quarter-final on April 5 and 12.
That means Arsenal’s most probable route back into the Champions League will rest on Danny Welbeck’s form.
No. It won’t because Arsenal are not a one-man team and Lacazettte will be back in March. In addition, the last 16 ties will be played on March 8 and 15. March 12 is a Monday. Europa League ties are played on Thursdays.
Apart from the story being factually inaccurate and based on total balls, it is spot on.
PS: But there is good news. Cop a load of the ads that wrapped around the balls. We counted – get this – 23 ads on this one story.
It’s almost as if the words are just a trick to make you see lots and lots and lots of ads…
Posted: 21st, February 2018 | In: Arsenal, Key Posts, News, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Wigan beating Manchester City is football at its chaotic best
The Manchester City website leads with a photo of referee Anthony Taylor showing City defender Fabian Delph a red card following the England man’s foul on Wigan Athletic’s Max Power. City says the “red seemed harsh”. The Wigan website doesn’t agree. Over there,Delph was given his marching orders for a late challenge on Power”. No controversy.
Wigan’s manger Paul Cook offers his take: “The dismissal gave us a massive lift. It was a huge factor in the game and I thought the referee got it right.”
The game ended 1-0 to Wigan. The dismissal surely help Wigan’s cause. But Man City failed to score. “Undoubtedly the decision to send Fabian Delph for an early bath was the game’s key moment,” says City. But surely the biggest moment was Will Grigg’s goal.
Pep Guardiola was more circumspect than his club’s press office. He didn’t claim the dismissal had been a decisive factor. “I don’t think it was,” he said. “We played well in the second half. We created more than enough chances to go through but in the end the result speaks for itself. We didn’t score any goals and Wigan did.”
What it all as, of course, was a stirring reminder of how chaotic and brilliant football is. Away from all the post-match guff, analytics and leading edge software packages operated by IT-illiterate ex-pros, the most expensive squad in football was turned over by a team in which Will Grigg is the Latics’ most expensive player at £1.3m.
Grigg – the best thing to have come out of Wigan since Limahl.
Rochdale defy Alli’s dive to earn FA Cup replay with Spurs
Delight for Rochdale as the latest of late goals secured a 2-2 draw with Spurs in the FA Cup. Rochdale fell behind when Harry Kane converted a penalty ‘won’ by the slippery-shoed Dele Alli.
The midfielder has form when it comes to tumbling in the box.
Alli has been booked three times for diving. His is the worst record in the Premiership. He is a persistent cheat. But what about other players not booked for diving outside the box? Pretty much every match features moments when the lightest physical contact sees a player fall theatrically to the ground. Is it fair to pick out Alli?
When Alli burst into Rochdale’a penalty area there was an inevitability about him ending up on his backside. Was it a foul? Should this have been given? Get a load of his legs as he falls over.
Anyone who says that Dele Alli didn’t dive again for a penalty, needs to take a closer look at the incident and explain why, from a standing start, he can move forward 2 metres and somehow end up with his legs so high in the air without instigating the movement himself?#ROCTOT pic.twitter.com/OpugqjlJO1
— Dave Roberts ⚽🎙 (@dlrbrts) February 18, 2018
Rochdale manager Keith Hill says Alli was “looking for” the penalty.
“I’m led to believe he [Alli] was looking for it, but why not?” Hill opined. “If players feel there is an opportunity to be gained then brilliant, I don’t hold it against him. I don’t blame him and I don’t have a problem with it. Whether it’s him, Harry Kane or (Rochdale striker) Ian Henderson, it doesn’t matter who does it. If he does that for England in the World Cup this summer then I will definitely be supporting him.”
How times change, eh. There used to be pride in staying on your feet.
Tottenham have expressed a real interest in this, lad. pic.twitter.com/0ACuJzzK8m
— Big Uncle Knobhead. (@ianwilson69) February 17, 2018
The odd thing is that if you cheat and the penalty is given, the FA can ban you for two matches. But the result secured by a converted penalty kick unfairly earned stands. Cheat and fail, and you get a yellow card. Chris Sutton muses: “There are two many players who are looking for contact. Alli is one, Wilfried Zaha is another. They need to be fearful of what punishment they will face.”
So what punishment fits the crime? A red card? A penalty for the other team? Points deducted?
Posted: 18th, February 2018 | In: News, Sports, Spurs | Comments (3)
Transfer balls: Arsenal want Fekir now before he realises his ‘dream’ and plays in Spain
Transfer balls: The BBC says Arsenal have “identified” Lyon’s Nabil Fekir as their “number one summer target”. The bad news for Gunners fans who want Arsene Wenger to be replaced as club manager this summer is that it’s Wenger who has picked the player.
This news is echoed by the Mail, which says Wenger “wants a deal agreed before Fekir reports for World Cup duty”. The story is backed by not a single source nor quote. It just is. We’re also told that the Lyon “midfielder” has been “compared to France legend Youri Djorkaeff”. By whom? Dunno. But in the Sun, we read: “The Gunners chief has been keeping tabs on the Lyon forward, who has been compared to France legend Youri Djorkaeff.”
At least the papers can agree on who Fekir reminds someone of, if not what position he plays.
The Sun then pads out a story based on nothing with this:
Djorkaeff inspired his nation on home soil in 1998 and won the European Championships two years later And Fekir will be hoping to do the same in Russia.
You think?
And why Arsenal? Well, Fekir’s father did say in 2015: “If he leaves, it will be for Arsenal. It’s the only club that can enable him to progress, with Arsene Wenger.”
Does he still think that? We can’t be sure because in 2017, Fekir told RTL his “dream” is to play in… Spain. He also said Manchester City interests him.
In other words: get your wallets out.
Posted: 17th, February 2018 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports | Comment
Talking balls: Manchester United and Manchester City fans duped by Owen on de Bruyne and Scholes
Kevin de Bruyne is a terrific player. Watching the Chelsea reject play so well at Manchester City is Michael Owen, the former Manchester United and Liverpool striker, and sometime pilot. The Manchester Evening News picks up his thoughts and thunders: “Kevin de Bruyne has surpassed Manchester United greats, insists Michael Owen.”
Better than Best, Edwards, Law and Giggs? De Bruyne’s good, but is he that good? The story continues:
Michael Owen insists Kevin de Bruyne has surpassed Manchester United legends Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and David Beckham.
He insists. He will not be swayed.
One day on and the MEN has a follow-up scoop, thundering: “Manchester United fans blast Michael Owen over Paul Scholes claims.”
Paul Scholes is hailed by many as the best passer there has ever been.
Barcelona legend Xavi described him as the finest central midfielder he had ever seen – and many a former teammate has praised his pinpoint accuracy. But, Michael Owen has other ideas.
United’s former No.7 claims Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne is a level above the United great.
Controversial stuff – and it would have been had Owen said it. Over on the Premier League’s official website, Owen says de Bruyne is not the best passer but the best at “assists”. The MEN’s story is utter bunkum.
Posted: 16th, February 2018 | In: Back pages, Manchester City, manchester united, News, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: Real Madrid move for Manchester United’s Paul Pogba
Doubltess inspired by Paul Pogba’s ability on the ball, match-winning performances and the remorseless marketing campaign that turned a Manchester United reject dreaming of a lucrative return ‘home’ to the club that recruited him from Le Havre in 2009 into the world’s greatest midfielder, Real Madrid are going to try to sign the Frenchman in the summer.
Well, so says the Sun, which says Pogba is part of the Real “plan” to rescue Pogba from the “field of broken dreams”. When Pogba signed for Juventus in 2012, the then Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson told MUTV: “I don’t think he showed us any respect at all so, to be honest, I’m quite happy.”
A more desperate less assured United were later “happy” to spunk £89m on the player they thought not worth the £30,000-a-week he was seeking in a new United contract in 2012. In any case, United say they have “no intention” of selling their priciest player – although the Sun says £120m should seal the deal. And the Mirror leads with news that Pogba is at “war” with the club.
Why would Real Madrid pay a fortune for a player whose not performed all that well? And what of all that guff Pogba spouted when he signed his new super-lucrative deal.
“I came here because I have targets, it’s a big challenge for me,” Pogba said. “I could have also gone to Real Madrid or Barcelona, they were interested. I chose to return, because I had that in my heart. It was my feeling that brought me here. I want to win with Manchester United, I’ve never won with them. I had always said that I would return – I didn’t know when – because it’s a club that I like a lot. I hadn’t finished, I left because I wanted to play. I hadn’t done what I had wanted to do here. I want United to become the great United again. That’s my challenge here.”
The feeling is that United will only flog Pogba should his marketing powers wane. Manchester United are a voracious money-making machine. According to Sports Direct, the three biggest selling shirts this year are: Alexis Sanchez – Manchester United; Paul Pogba – Manchester United; Harry Kane – Tottenham. Pogba leaving only work is United can replace him with bigger star. And you’ve got to wonder Harry Kane would chose to leave Spurs to join Jose Mourinho’s underwhelming United…
Posted: 16th, February 2018 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Sports | Comment
