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.
Liverpool balls: Coutinho is determined to join Barcelona
Philippe Coutinho wants to leave Liverpool for Barcelona as soon as possible. The Times says Coutinho “believes that he has played his last game for Liverpool”. Not that belief is as legally binding as a contract.
Liverpool have rejected a bid of £119m for the 25-year-old. But Liverpool are now, reportedly, willing to sell should the Spanish side come up with an improved offer for the Brazilian – something in the region of £130m.
Coutinho has been playing well for Liverpool, scoring 12 goals in 20 appearances. But the problem for Coutinho is that his contract keeps him at Liverpool until 2022. He earns a not-too-shabby £150,000-a-week on the deal he signed last year, but his earning would rocket at Barcelona, and that’s without any signing-on bonus, which would be huge.
So is Coutinho, who was absent for Liverpool’s scrappy win New Year’s Day win at Burnley, off? Last week, Nike, the player’s sponsor and suppliers of Barcelona’s kit, stated a deal had been done. That was incorrect, say Liverpool.
Over in Spain, the front page of Mundo Deportivo declares: “Coutinho 145 millones.” Of course, what the newspapers say is ofter utter tosh. In October, the Liverpool Echo opined: “Philippe Coutinho deal to Barcelona may have already been done.” Or it may not have been.
One thing is certain: Liverpool are primed for Barcelona’s next move.
Posted: 3rd, January 2018 | In: Back pages, Liverpool, News, Sports | Comment
Manchester United balls: Neville blames everyone but Mourinho for Manchester City’s rise
On Twitter, Gary Neville, Sky Sports’ one-man schedule filler, has been talking about how Manchester United’s dullsville team are not of football mercenary Jose Mourinho’s making. When not winning friends with his warm smile and gallant sportsmanship – Mourinho recently aimed his trademark bitchiness at United great Paul Scholes, opining, “It’s not Paul’s [Pogba’s] fault that he made much more money than Paul Scholes” – Mourinho is making do with an under-powered squad, says Gary Neville:
On United. We should be closer to City irrespective of their incredible run but City did have a better squad than United when Jose came in. The recruitment under LVG / DM all over the place. The club should be signing players that suit the values not being taken from one extreme to another by managers with differing principles. It’s a very costly exercise and means the waste is huge. The players signed by Jose are much better and more aligned to the club’s values. He should be supported in the TM with more players that meet the club ethic.
Compare and contrast those comments with what Neville told Sky Sports on August 14 2017:
You can’t just drop your expectation because they haven’t won it for a couple of years. They have to win the league. Mourinho has to win the league here. The money that’s been spent, his own personal expectations and what he’s always delivered has been titles, so I would say United have to approach this season to win the league.
I don’t think it’s good enough to say ‘they’re going to get back into fourth’. That isn’t an ambition when you’ve spent the money that’s been spent and amassed the players that Mourinho has now amassed.”
There is no excuse for Manchester United not to challenge for the league. That’s not putting pressure on the players or Jose Mourinho, but they have to challenge with the money that has been spent and the players that have been brought in.
The club’s values? Does anyone believe United under Mourinho are a swashbuckling, attacking side of verve and character – or ever will be?
Posted: 2nd, January 2018 | In: Back pages, Manchester City, manchester united, Sports | Comments (3)
Media bias: Arsenal are robbed by West Bromwich Albion’s deserved penalty
Biased footballer reporting is very much in evidence in match reports on West Bromwich Albion’s 1–1 draw with Arsenal. Having taken the lad with an 83rd minute own goal, the Gunners were denied a win when Albion scored an 89th minute penalty. Referee Mike Dean decided that it was hand ball when, as the Arsenal website puts it “former Gunner Kieran Gibbs flicked the ball into Calum Chambers’ hand in the area”. The reporting is clear: any handball was not intentional.
Former referee Graham Poll uses his Daily Mail column to state: “It wasn’t a penalty. It should never have been a penalty.”
The Times says “Calum Chambers was penalised for handball when the ball was kicked at him from a yard away”.
But in the Express and Star, the local West Bromwich Albion newspaper, the report looks like this:
Having been the better team for large parts of the game, Alan Pardew’s team found themselves staring defeat in the face after Alexis Sanchez squeezed a free-kick through a brittle Baggies wall seven minutes from time.
There will be an inquest into that goal, which has officially gone down as a James McClean own goal, but in the 89th minute, referee Mike Dean pointed at the spot after Callum Chambers handled in the box.
No inquest about that.
And: “Albion hadn’t been awarded a spot-kick for more than 50 games, so they were certainly due one.”
So that’s alright, then.
Posted: 1st, January 2018 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, News, Sports | Comments (2)
Arsenal balls: the Sun spins Wenger’s words to annoy Liverpool fans
Forget circumspection. When opining about Alex Oxlade-Champberlain, the player Arsenal sold to Liverpool for the best part of £40m, Arsene Wenger was scathing. The Sun and Mirror heard Wenger accuse the former Arsenal player of laziness and made it their lead sport story.
The Sun thunders: “OX LAZE – Arsene Wenger accuses Liverpool star Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain of sitting in a rocking chair and refusing to fight for Arsenal spot.” Wenger gave Oxlade-Chamberlaie a “verbal battering”.
The Mirror says Wenger aimed a “dig” at Oxlade-Chamberlain.
The Sun quotes Wenger. It’s much the same in the Mirror:
“What do you want to be, a big player and not have to fight? You can’t be a big player, sit in your rocking chair and say I do not want to fight. It doesn’t work like that. Every player has to fight. In a big club you have big competition with some good players. That is absolutely normal…
“I offered him a contract to stay but in the end he decided to go and we just had to try and get the best possible price.Sometimes it happens when one player who we don’t want to go, goes.
“We respect his decision and I have no problem with that. What’s important is that the players make a good career, preferably in your club. If it doesn’t happen, you still want them to have a good career. I personally think he will be an important player for England and will continue to develop.”
What neither paper finds room to note is what Wenger also said. This in the Guardian:
“What do you want? To be a big player and not have to fight? What do you want on top of that – sitting in your rocking chair and saying: ‘I’m a big player? I don’t need to fight?’ No. It doesn’t work like that. Every player can do that and Chamberlain does it. I am convinced it’s part of being a top player.”
If that’s a verbal battering, the mind boggles as to what praise looks like?
Posted: 30th, December 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Liverpool, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Desperate Liverpool outbid Manchester City for Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk
If Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk is worth £75m to Liverpool, rival clubs must be running audits of their playing assets and discovering new riches.
Liverpool will take delivery of the Dutch defender on January 2 in a £75m deal, making him the world’s most expensive defender.
It say something about the price when you know that massive-spending Manchester City were not prepared to match Liverpool’s offer for yet another Southampton player – Van Dijk will become the sixth Southampton player signed by Liverpool since 2014. He’ll join former Saints: Sadio Mane (£34m), Adam Lallana (£25m), Dejan Lovren (£20m), Nathaniel Clyne (£12.5m). Rickie Lambert (£5m) has left the club. And Liverpool boast another former Saint in Oxlade-Chamberlain, who they recruited from Arsenal for £35m.
Might it not be cheaper for Liverpool to hire Southampton’s talent spotters? Or why not buy the club? In 2017, Southampton sold 80% of the club to Chinese businessman Gao Jisheng for around £210m. Liverpool have spent not far shy of that on Southampton players.
Posted: 28th, December 2017 | In: Liverpool, News, Sports | Comment
Arsenal balls: Sanchez agreed a new contract last December
Time for Arsenal to burn their bridges with Alexis Sanchez and kick out the sulky forward.
News is that the Chile international wanted to stay at Arsenal, allegedly shaking hands on a new deal last December.
Everything was agreed. But before Arsenal’s dithering board got any contract signed, the club were demolished 10-2 over two Champions’ League matches by a no-more-than-decent Bayern Munich side in March. Sanchez realised Arsenal were rubbish.
His future lay at Manchester City. They bid £60m, which Arsenal, in thrall to a palsied management structure of limited ambitions for anything other than routine dividends, rejected. Now they’ve got a misfiring player on huge wages. The only way to get something out of the situation is to push Sanchez out this January before he can leave for free at the season’s end.
Cue, then, the paper talk that he reneged on an agreement to remain at the club. Boo! Get him out!
Posted: 23rd, December 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Broadsheets, Sports | Comment
Arsenal transfer balls: Sanchez to PSG for £25m and Manchester City for free
Transfer Balls: a look at poor football reporting. Today the papers are looking once more at Alexis Sanchez, the Arsenal player yet to rediscover the form that made him such a force.
News is that Sanchez is to join PSG. He’s closing in on a move to Paris St-Germain after his agent flew to the French capital for talks, says The Metro. He was there in August, of course. The Metro told us Sanchez was in Paris to finalise the deal he’d agreed in July. But it turned out to be total balls. Sanchez had been in the city to renew his work permit.
The Express says PSG will offer Arsenal £25m. That’s not too shabby for the 29-year-old player. But the Daily Mirror says Sanchez will hang on and join Manchester City for free at the end of the season, when his contract expires. City will pay him £400,000 a week. The Mail says Manchester City are “almost certain to sign Arsenal striker Alexis Sanchez in the summer”. The Guardian says it’s “likely” Sanchez will join City in January.
Right now it looks as though Arsenal stuffed up in rejecting City’s £60m for Sanchez last summer. The player’s been disappointing for the Gunners. Although he never did go on strike, as the Express said he would.
Sanchez is an Arsenal player. And in late November, Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, was adamant, telling a press conference: “In my head, they stay until the end of the season. Unless something unbelievable happens I don’t see that changing.”
Not that anything is all that believable when it comes to reporting on Sanchez.
Posted: 22nd, December 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports | Comment
West Ham United’s Manuel Lanzini charged for diving in match at Stoke
The Football Association have charged West Ham United’s Manuel Lanzini for diving during Saturday’s Premier League match at Stoke. The alleged dive earned West Ham a penalty, from which they scored the game’s first goal. Stoke’s Erik Pieters didn’t touch Lanzini. And the FA’s three-person panel of “independent” experts will decide if Lanzini dived or was forced into evasive action.
If found guilty, Lanzini will get a two-match ban and be branded a cheat – just as Oumar Niasse was when he became the first Premier League player to be banned for diving.
“He’s clearly dived. He’s a clever player, he’ll draw a foul or some kind of challenge but he wasn’t clipped,” moaned Stoke’s manager Mark Hughes after the match. “Referees need to get match-defining decisions correct and he certainly didn’t get that one correct.”
Oddly, Hughes was less upset when Stoke played Arsenal earlier in the season, during which the Gunners were wrongly denied two penalty shouts. Hughes declared himself to be “delighted” with the outcome.
The game is full of bias. So here’s David Moyes, the West Ham manager, on the alleged dive: “Manu has ran 70 yards and probably ran his race at the end of it. I think the defender going to ground means the referee has a choice to make. I don’t think there’s any intent regarding a dive. I think he’s riding the tackle more than anything. If you take the whole action into consideration, I definitely don’t see it being a dive. I see it being tiredness at the end of it but I don’t see a dive.”
He didn’t dive. He was having a rest.
Manuel Lanzini should expect a ban from the FA after this ridiculous dive today vs Stoke! pic.twitter.com/bVVo2TghCv
— Transfer Swoop (@SwoopTransfer) December 16, 2017
Biased balls: Stoke fouled and West Ham’s phantom penalty
Biased Balls: a look at biased football reporting. Today’s Premier League match between Stoke City and West Ham United earned the Londoners’ three points thanks to a 3-0 win.
the first goal came from the penalty spot. This is how the clubs’ websites report it.
West Ham:
…West Ham and Lanzini broke. The Argentine charged into the left-hand-side of the box and drew the foul from Eric Pieters. Referee Graham Scott pointed to the spot and the skipper stepped up to confidently slot past Butland to the goalkeeper’s left.
Stoke:
Erik Pieters was adjudged to have tripped Manuel Lanzini inside the penalty area, when television replays clearly showed the Dutchman had in fact made no contact with his opponent.
As one side sees controversy and the other a clear foul, we all should think Marko Arnautovic, who scored on his return to the bet365 Stadium for the first time since his transfer to West Ham. Not for him the bowed head and doleful walk to the half-way line. the Austrian celebrated his goal by sliding on his knees, pointing to the Heavens and hailing the West Ham fans with an ‘Irons’ crossed-armed salute.
Stoke:
Posted: 16th, December 2017 | In: Back pages, News, Sports | Comment
Biased balls: Everton’s masterplan, Liverpool make a point and Crystal Palace and Bournemouth adjudged
Biased balls: a look at one0eyed football reporting.
Liverpool drew 1-1 with Everton in the Merseyside derby. A goal to the good courtesy of Mohamed Salah’s opener, Liverpool were hauled back by an Everton penalty, converted by Wayne Rooney. Should it have been given?
The Everton website tells us Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin was “pushed inside the area by Dejan Lovren”. Foul by Lovren, then. Everton’s “patience and application paid off when Dominic Calvert-Lewin was felled in the box by Dejan Lovren with 15 minutes to play – and Rooney rifled into the roof of the net from 12 yards.”
But the Liverpool website makes the player benign, says “Lovren was adjudged to have pushed Calvert-Lewin”. It wasn’t a push. It was a judgement. Liverpool’s official website hammers home the point by adding, “Dejan Lovren was deemed to have push Dominic Calvert-Lewin.” And: ” Dejan Lovren adjudged to have pushed Dominic Calvert-Lewin inside the area.”
More adjudgments in the Crystal Palace v Bournemouth match:
The Bournemouth FC website says: “A flick on from Benteke soon found Zaha running free and he was adjudged to have been brought down by Begovic.”
WAs it a foul or not?
But the Palace website see a clear foul: “…a superb flick-on by Benteke allowed Zaha to brush past Nathan Ake and speed into the area, and as he tried to round Begovic he was brought down by the Bosnian stopper for a spot-kick.
Pravda has nothing on this lot.
Posted: 10th, December 2017 | In: Back pages, Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls in the Sun: Ozil talks to Arsenal and agrees to join Manchester United and Barcelona
Transfer balls: the Sun says Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil could sign a deal to stay at the club. Today’s paper reports:
The German midfielder’s representative have been in talks with the Gunners for more than a year over fresh terms.
Er… Can this be the same paper that told readers on September 13th 2017:
The 28-year-old has not spoken to club officials about a new deal since negotiations broke down in February.
And in July, the Sun told us:
‘MY PREFERENCE IS TO STAY’ – Mesut Ozil to hold contract extension talks with Arsenal in next fortnight
And on October 21 added:
Ozil, 29, has NOT had talks about a new contract with Arsenal since March
So much for the talks. What but the done deals?
October 20th readers were told:
OZMOSIS Arsenal – ace Mesut Ozil reckons Manchester United move is a done deal
November 8th:
OZIL wants Jack Wilshere’s No 10 shirt as part of his terms to stay at Arsenal.
And on November 22:
BARCELONA have agreed a deal to sign Mesut Ozil
And on November 30th:
ADIOZ – Mesut Ozil set to open talks on move to Barcelona with his Arsenal deal set to expire
December 6:
Emirates insiders have suggested a stunning breakthrough in negotiations is “very, very close.”
Such are the facts…
Posted: 9th, December 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports | Comment
Mark Clattenburg: I let Spurs lose the title at Chelsea
Like so many of you, I am a huge fan of the Premier League referees. Sadly, my Mark Clattenburg replica kit is now a ‘vintage’ item on match days following ‘Clatts’ departure to Saudi Arabia.
Clattenburg (‘REF – HERO – LEGEND’) has been on NBC’s Men in Blazers podcast, reliving the glory days when he “allowed Tottenham to self-destruct” in their 2-2 draw with Chelsea in May 2016. Spurs had to win the match to keep their Premier League title challenge alive.
And for such an important match they were awarded Clattenburg, who booked nine Spurs players. Argy-bargy after the match also helped Chelsea and Tottenham receive record fines from the Football Association, and Spurs’ Mousa Dembele was banned for six games for violent conduct.
“I allowed them [Spurs] to self-destruct so all the media, all the people in the world went: ‘Tottenham lost the title’,” says Clatts. “If I sent three players off from Tottenham, what are the headlines? ‘Clattenburg cost Tottenham the title.’ It was pure theatre that Tottenham self-destructed against Chelsea and Leicester won the title.”
Football’s Andrew Lloyd Webber (surely Webber is theatre’s Clattenburg? – ed) continues: “Some referees would have played by the book; Tottenham would have been down to seven or eight players and probably lost and they would’ve been looking for an excuse. But I didn’t give them an excuse, because my gameplan was: Let them lose the title.”
Who needs rules when you have a ref like Clattenburg? All together now for that familiar match-day chant one last time: Whose the w***** in the black? “One FA Cup and three UEFA Finals, do-dah, do-dah.”
Posted: 4th, December 2017 | In: Chelsea, News, Sports | Comment
Arsenal v Manchester United balls: Alexandre Lacazette’s miraculous recovery
The news was unequivocal: Arsenal forward Alexandre Lacazette is out with a groin injury.” He will not play against Manchester United. The BBC publishes that news below the teams for Arsenal v United. Lacazette is at number 9.
It was Arsene Wenger who said Lacazete will not play – that he’d be “out for a while”.
“He’s definitely out for [Manchester United] this weekend,” said Wenger on Novermber 29. “It looked like a groin injury. He could be out for a while.”
Well, look again.
The news of Lacazette’s injury pleased United.
“Alex has been great and at this moment and he is scoring goals and playing well for the team,” United’s Paul Pogba told MUTV. “He is a big player for them and if he is not there I would say it is good for us. I hope for us that he doesn’t play because that will help us. But I also hope he doesn’t have a bad injury.”
Such are the facts…
Posted: 2nd, December 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Spurs balls: Mauricio Pochettino’s Brave New World falls apart
As Tottenham slip to 7th place in the Premier League, the Sun elbows its way to front of the queue to bash team manager Mauricio Pochettino. In “Chapter And Worse”, the paper wonders, “Is Posh book to blame for Spurs’ Real Shocker?” The answer is, of course, no.
In case you missed Pochettino’s book, Brave New World: Inside Pochettino’s Spurs “reveals secrets behind his success”. He reveals: he likes eating crisps; “Whenever I am slightly down, I like to smell Argentinian wine”; “Poch is very keen on building-up an unbreakable team, spirit”; “the ever-professional Poch…likes to quiz his stars on selected topics from their most recent team meeting if he bumps into them in the corridors… just to make sure they were listening”; and he “once dropped a player for eating LASAGNE”. All those killer facts are in the Sun’s review of the book in an article dated October 27.
One month on and, according to the Sun, the book that told of Poch’s “success” and his skill for building team spirit is the catalyst for disaster.
In the online version of the story of the cursed book, the Sun answers its own question with a ‘YES’:
The Spurs boss’ book, Brave New World, appears to have jinxed his title-chasing side since it reached shelves on October 26.
In the paper version (pages 56 and 57), the story begins by answering that same question with a ‘NO’:
It is surely coincidence that since the story of Mauricio Pochettino’s ‘Brave New World’ was published, Spurs’ title dream has died.’
Mark Irwin tells us that five games ago, Spurs were “Manchester City’s most likely challenges”. Fourteen matches into the season, Spurs are seventh. After nine matches played, Spurs were in third place, five points behind Manchester City. Manchester United were second, surely making them the side most likely to topple City.
Reading on we learn that the book “has not gone down well with certain players, who are uncomfortable with some of the manager’s revelations”. The crisps, right? Or was it how he likes to pick the washing powder for the team’s kit?
This is the same Pochettino who was subject to the Sun’s story of September 23 2017, which focused on his talent for team bonding:
MAURICIO POCHETTINO took his Tottenham stars and Daniel Levy out to dinner this week – at a cost of £7,000. The generous Spurs boss picked up the whopping tab after inviting FIFTY of his club colleagues, including chairman Levy, to his team-bonding get-together at posh West End diner Beast on Wednesday night.
Such are the facts.
Posted: 1st, December 2017 | In: Back pages, News, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Iran tells fighter to abandon sporting values, lose deliberately and avoid Israeli athlete
Iran has set out to prove that sport is pointless. Iranian wrestler Alireza Karimi-Mashiani was winning a quarter-final fight in the under-23 world championships. Russian fighter Alikhan Zhabrailov looked set to lose the 86kg bout. The winner would take on Israel’s Uri Kalashnikov. A voice calls out, reportedly, “Alireza, you have to lose!”
“In a moment, my whole world seemed to come to an end,” Karimi tells the Iranian Students News Agency. “I was told that the Israeli wrestler defeated his American rival, and that I must lose to avoid facing an Israeli opponent. I have trained hard for months to win a gold medal, and it was easy for me to win.”
Poor sod. But no matter about your sporting prowess. The State loves you. You’re not an athlete. You’re a role model. Iran’s sports ministry posts a statement: “Your noble and heroic action in the world competition in Poland, abandoning the medal and the podium in support of the highest human values, is a source of pride and praise.”
What those values are is not noted. But we believe them to be not a lot unlike the values extolled at the 1936 Olympics. Front Page Mag goes further: “The Mullahs transform international sport into Jew-hate.”
Now those results in full.
Iranian wrestler Alireza Karimi about to beat Russian, but will have to face Israeli next round. His coach his calling him from the sidelines, telling him to “lose.” Iran forbids its athletes to play Israeli’s. Iranian wrestler gives up. pic.twitter.com/nX9KHaH8Jn
— Thomas Erdbrink (@ThomasErdbrink) November 27, 2017
Transfer balls: Ozil stays at Arsenal unless Manchester United make ‘unbelievable’ offer
At the Arsenal press conference, Arsene Wenger was asked about Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil leaving the club in the January transfer window – both players are in the last year of their current contracts. On the official Arsenal website, his words are distilled into the headline: “Wenger – Ozil and Alexis will stay in January.”
Will Alexis and Mesut Ozil will be here on February 1?
AW: Yes, of course.
Will they be at the club next season?
AW: I am not the only one who can decide that. They have a part to play in that as well. If it’s my decision, yes.
Could he possible envisage them leaving in January?
AW: Unless something unbelievable happens, I can’t see why that would change.
Put that through the clickbait machine and you get:
The Metro: “Chelsea enter race to sign Mesut Ozil from Arsenal.” Not much of a race, considering he’s staying at least until the season’s end. And then this:
Arsene Wenger, meanwhile, sparked confusion over Ozil’s future this week by claiming that the midfielder will not be sold in January.
How did that trigger confusion? It was a clear statement. The utter tosh is amplified in the Manchester Evening News, which having tricked readers with a conniving Ozil to Manchester United story, now trills: “Manchester United told what it will take to sign Arsenal star Mesut Ozil.”
Did Wenger name a price? No. When pressed he said it would take something “unbelievable” for Ozil to be sold.
Such are the facts.
Posted: 29th, November 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Chelsea, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Trust Project balls: Arsenal and Manchester United fans tricked by MEN Ozil news
In the twilight zone between fact and fiction, sits football reporting. Today’s Manchester Evening News turns a simple story on Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil’s bout of the sniffles into “positive news” for Manchester United fans. Before we get to Samuel Luckhurst’s story, the headline:
Manchester United get Mesut Ozil boost from Arsenal
Rumours abound that Manchester United will move for the Arsenal star whose contract expires at the season’s end. Notions of pending transfer business is the meat to the story. That’s only reinforced by the teaser:
Mesut Ozil is interested in moving to Man Utd next year and Jose Mourinho has received some positive news from Arsenal.
Can it be that Ozil is on his way to Old Trafford? Are Arsenal and United arranging things? Before reaching the story, we’re told that the MEN is part of the ‘Trust Project’. What’s that?
The Trust Project is an international consortium of news organizations collaborating to use transparency to build a more trustworthy and trusted press.
It’s clear, then. Ozil to Manchester United is on.
The story begins:
Mesut Ozil could be a doubt for Arsenal’s weekend Premier League fixture with Manchester United due to illness.
And… And nothing. The entire story is that Ozil was ill and couldn’t play for the Gunners at Burnley. He might be ill for when Arsenal play United next weekend. Arsenal have offered no boost for any transfer. The ‘good news’ is that Ozil is ill.
So much for trust, eh.
Posted: 27th, November 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, manchester united, News, Sports | Comment
Everton balls: the biggest match ever (until Martin Keown’s next deadline)
Not content with ignoring facts to have a pop at Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil, Martin Keown is making historically incontinent comments about his other former club, Everton. Buying into the hype that everything in Premier League football is of monumental importance, Keown notices that Everton are playing badly, furrows his brown, leans in and tells Match of the Day viewers: “You think now, Wednesday they play West Ham at home. Is there a bigger game in Everton’s history?”
A bigger game? No. Many bigger games? Yes. Even if you buy into Keown’s bilge that football began in the Premier League era, Everton have had big games. In 1994, they secured a momentous 3-2 win over Wimbledon.
Two goals down, with nine minutes of the season remaining – and needing to win to stay up – Everton scored the winner.
Four years later, Everton endured more last-day drama.
1997-98
Everton stayed up by way of superior goal difference over Bolton. Everton needed only a point against Coventry if Bolton lost at Chelsea, which they did. Everton were one goal up – then with five minutes to go missed a penalty. With two minutes to go Coventry scored. Tension. You betcha.
But none of that nor the glory nights, when Everton won Cups and league titles matters. Because 14 games into the season, Martin Keown says a home match with West Ham is the biggest match in Everton’s history.
Biased Balls: Burnley robbed by an easy Arsenal penalty
Biased Balls: a look at bias in football reporting. Today we look at Burnley’s 0-1 defeat at home to Arsenal in the Premier League. Burnley lost to Arsenal in injury-time for the third game in a row. This time it was penalty converted in the 93rd minute.
Was it a foul?
YES!
The Sun: “For the third successive Premier League game, Arsenal have beaten Burnley thanks to a last minute goal. This time it was Sanchez with the winning goal from the penalty spot after Tarkowski had pushed Ramsey to the floor.”
BBC: “The spot-kick was awarded by referee Lee Mason after defender James Tarkowski pushed Aaron Ramsey.”
Arsenal FC: “The spot-kick was an easy one to give after James Tarkowski shoved Aaron Ramsey as Sead Kolasinac headed across goal. And Alexis was coolness personified with a low finish past goalkeeper Nick Pope.”
London Evening Standard: “A game with a history of late goals brought drama yet again as Tarkowski shoved Ramsey.”
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger: “From outside it [the penalty] looked 100%. I don’t know why he pushed him in the back. I would like to see it again.”
MAYBE…
Burnley Express: “Arsenal penalty after Tarkowski is adjuded [sic] to have pushed Sanchez.”
The Guardian (from their ‘Manchester-based correspondent): “Burnley suffered heartbreak right at the end when James Tarkowski came together with Aaron Ramsey in the area and Lee Mason, the referee, gave a penalty.”
Burnley FC: “This was another tough call with the decision not looking black-and-white as Tarkowski was harshly punished.. Kolasinac’s headed ball into the penalty area was aimed for Ramsey and when he went down under pressure from Tarkowski, Mason pointed to the spot.”
Burnley manager Sean Dyche: “It was highly unlikely it [the penalty] wasn’t going to get given on a day like today, that’s all I’ll say.”
Such are the facts.
Such are the facts…
Posted: 26th, November 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: when will Liverpool sign Didier Baptiste?
Dream Team
November 24 is the day when Liverpool moved to sign Didier Baptiste for £3.5million. It was an unforgettable moment of Transfer Balls on November 24 1999. The News of the World reported that Liverpool were looking to sign the “French Under-21 international” from Monaco.
Baptiste to Liverpool was on. The Times and The Guardian agreed, albeit valuing Baptiste at £1million. But Gerard Houllier’s Liverpool would never get the young defender: He didn’t (and still doesn’t) exist.
Baptiste was a character played by the late Tom Redhill in the Sky One football soap opera ‘Dream Team’ who arrived at Harchester United from Monaco in 1999.
The aforementioned papers were all drawn into a hoax that began on an Arsenal fan forum and got rehashed on Liverpool’s Clubcall line (a premium rate phone number supporters could ring to listen to the latest club-related gossip), from whence the News of the World plucked the ‘story’ and ran with it.
The News of the World duly blamed the Hayters sports news agency for feeding them the rumour, though the damage had already been done.
As Chris Wright quips: “The tabloid was ultimately forced to cease publication in 2011, though whether the Baptiste cock-up was directly to blame is still subject to debate.”
Posted: 25th, November 2017 | In: Back pages, Liverpool, News, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Come On Effzeh! The Daily Mirror trolls Arsenal and Spurs fans by misreporting FC Cologne song
At last night Europa League match between Cologne and Arsenal (-0 to the Germans), the Daily Mirror heard fans offering some tag-team anti-Spurs abuse. The headline is unequivocal: ‘”Tottenham are s***!” Arsenal and Cologne fans “join forces to troll Spurs” during Europa League tie”.
They did? No, of course they didn’t. The Mirror is trolling Arsenal and Spurs fans. But Mark Jones is hearing what he wants to, telling Mirror readers:
Arsenal fans seemingly joined forces with their counterparts from Cologne to troll Tottenham Hotspur during their Europa League tie in Germany on Thursday night… the two sets of fans linked up in perfect harmony at the RheinEnergieStadion, although Spurs fans won’t want to hear it.
Wrong. The Cologne fans chant “Come on FC!” or “Come on Effzeh!” over and over and over at every match. Cologne fans are not trolling Spurs fans. They don’t give a s*** about Spurs fans. But the Mirror’s advertising clicks do.
Spotter: 365
Posted: 24th, November 2017 | In: Arsenal, News, Sports, Spurs, Tabloids | Comment
Arsenal: every Europa League winner loses
Arsenal were beaten by the mighty FC Cologne in the Europa Cup. The German side was poor, needing a pretty soft penalty to hit the net; but even when faced with the Bundesliga’s worst side Arsenal couldn’t score. But fear not, Arsenal fans. The Gunners can still win the second-rate cup. No team to have captured the trophy since the first winners in 2010 has gone the course undefeated.
The following is a guide to how many matches the eventual winners lost by. Defeats in two-legged knock-out rounds are in brackets.
2010: Atletico Madrid 3 (1)
2011: Porto (2)
2012: Atletico Madrid 1
2013: Chelsea 2 (2)
2014: Seville (3)
2015: Seville 1
2016: Seville 4 (2)
2017: Manchester United 1
Onwards and upwards, Arsenal. One the best players take part it’ll be shoo-in, right. Ozil and Sanchez will fire Arsenal home – unless thy leave the club in January.
Posted: 23rd, November 2017 | In: Arsenal, News, Sports | Comment
Arsenal Transfer Balls: Ozil agrees Barcelona deal by Messi wants Liverpool’s Coutinho
Cancel that one-way ticket to Barcelona, Mesut Ozil. It turn out that Barcelona don’t want the Arsenal forward after all. It was only yesterday the paper were saying how Ozil was dreaming of playing for Barcelona and a £20m move in the January transfer window was on the cards. Now we’re told by the BBC that Barcelona’s mighty Lionel Messi has scuppered any moves for Ozil, 29.
The source for this story is Diario Gol, which thunders: “The Argentine star does not want to know anything about the German.” The story contains not a single quote from Messi. We put it through Google Translate:
Leo Messi…has already told Bartomeu and Ernesto Valverde that he does not want it. He considers that he is a very old player – Mesut is 29 years old – and that, in the event that Coutinho does not come now in January, it is better to put up with the put and go for a crack in June…
In addition, one of the things that has characterized the athletic career of the Arsenal player is his lack of regularity. During his time at Real Madrid , Mesut combined great performances with games in which he could not be seen. Just as it is happening in the English club, where he only drops a pearl from time to time but can not get the reins of the team.
So the move is off. No. Today’s Metro says Ozil has agreed to joined Barcelona.
The Metro cites “reports in Spain” as its source, but declines to mention which they are. The Express carries the same report, but does link to a source, stating: “And Catalan reporter Quique Guasch told Spanish outlet Catalunya Radio that Ozil had agreed a three-and-a-half year contract and is expected to cost around £17.8million.” How they know, no-one’s saying.
And then there’s the Mail, which says no agreement has been reached, and, as the headline tells it, Ozil wants a lot of money: “Arsenal star Mesut Ozil demands Barcelona offer him £330,000-a-week deal amid January interest.” That report is rooted in Spanish site AS, which says: “In addition to the astronomical salary, Özil will ask for a succulent signing bonus.” It also notes that Arsenal want “Leon Goretzka, an allcampists of Schalke 04”.
Such are the facts.
Posted: 23rd, November 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: Barcelona and Manchester United are desperate for Ozil but Arsenal want him to stay
Transfer Balls: Having secured a new talent spotter in the shape of Sven Mislinat from Borussia Dortmund – he helped the Germans recruit Robert Lewandowski, Shinji Kagawa, Ousmane Dembele and their want-away striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (any Gooners think he’s heading to the Emirates?) – news is of players leaving the club. And chief among them is Mesut Ozil.
The Sun says Ozil “is keen on joining Barcelona”. Arsenal are apparently eager to get £20m for the 29-year-old this January. The Manchester Evening News says “Ozil is keen on a move” to Old Trafford for £17.7m. The London Evening Standard says “Arsenal players expect Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez to stay”.
Much blather, then. But one story has roots: the Sun’s story is sourced in a report in Mundo Deportivo – the sports newspaper published in…Barcelona. Just as the Manchester-based paper knows Ozil wants to play for Manchester United, the Barcelona based newspaper knows he wants to play in Barcelona. As for the London-based Standard, well, it’s balls is based on the opinion of Nacho Monreal, who told a rival organ, “I can’t say much about it. It does not depend on me… If the club want them to stay beyond December [the January transfer window] they will follow. Yet, I do not know the club’s intentions.”
Let’s put the not-in-the-least-bit-biased Deportivo story through Google Translate and see what we learn:
Dr. Erkut Sogut , who represents Mesut Özil , has negotiations with Barça . The agent has confessed to the Barça club the tremendous interest of his represented in playing at the Camp Nou, but he has also made it clear that there are six sets more interested in the German international of Turkish origin.
Ozil played for Barcelona’s dread rivals Real Madrid.
In addition to the offer to Özil , they want to know what they will do to Arsenal , their current club. And, above all, the time of the duration of the contract, which would want it to be at least the rest of the season and two more years. The club would want that third season was negotiated between the two parties, taking into account the age of the German, 29 years.
Not exactly chomping at the bit, then.
The advantage of Barça is that Özil has the thorn in the “no” of Pep Guardiola in 2010 and wants to show that he has a place in the Catalan team. He really likes the way Barça played since he was at Werder Bremen .
The advantage? In Ozil’s Die Magie des Spiels, he states:
“Arsenal were interested in signing me after the 2010 World Cup, as were Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid. My agent sat down with Bayern to discuss a move. The club told him about their plans with me and how they intended to use me. He had similar talks with the other clubs that wanted me.
“Before I travelled to Barcelona, I was convinced that was my next club. I was leaning toward joining Barcelona. There was no team in the world that played more beautiful football. But Guardiola did not attend talks and he did not call me either the days after. He did not even send me a text. He did not show me that he wanted to sign me as well. My interest in a move to Barcelona quickly decreased.”
Got that? Barcelona’s “advantage” is that they ignored him. Undaunted by fact, the paper continues:
In addition, Özil believes that if he signs for Barça , playing alongside Lionel Messi , he could hope to win, for the first time, the Champions League .
If he wants to win that, his agent should court PSG.
The Arsenal has given the ‘OK’ to Erkut Sogut that Özil can march on the January market to earn some money, which would not happen at the end of the season to be free. They have the direct permission of Arsène Wenger .
Wenger said he can go? No quote to back that up. But Wenger did says last month: “I cannot tell you what is in his mind. I genuinely think he wants to stay. But I am always positive about that.”
Such are the facts.
Posted: 22nd, November 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, News, Sports | Comment
Clickbait balls: Daily Mirror tricks Manchester United fans with rehashed FIFA 18 press release
Clickbait balls in the Daily Mirror, the self-styled “intelligent tabloid”, which appears not to have the utmost respect for its readers. The headline is unequivocal: all-time Manchester United great Peter Schmeichel has named an “ultimate XI” that does not include a single players from his former club:
That’s newsworthy stuff, especially for Manchester United fans. But click on the link and you get the story that Schmeichel wasn’t picking actual players. He was picking virtual footballers made up of code and pixels. It’s a glorified press release from EA Sports, who asked their man to name a FIFA 18 ultimate XI from the game’s current choices, taking in every player in every virtual team in every virtual league.
It’s clickbait.
Why not just name the video game in the headline? Well, it’s all about the clicks…
Posted: 22nd, November 2017 | In: manchester united, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
