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.
The Sun’s Dave Kidd joins Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger in a Post Truth pogo
Writing about Arsenal and Arsene Wenger in the Sun, Dave Kidd, the paper’s chief sports writer, is waiting for the Frenchman to make a dignified exit.
Kidd says that following Arsenal’s limp defeat to table-topping Chelsea, Wenger was complaining about the Blues’ first goal. He said it was dangerous play and the goal should not have stood. Kidd thinks Wenger’s operating ‘on Trump-style alternative facts’.
Marcos Alonso, says Kidd, ‘leaped like a normal person rather than pogo-ing with his arms by his side, like us Sex Pistols fans were doing at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall in 1976‘.
Really?
In October 2016, Sports Journalists, the website of the Sports Journalists’ Association, noted Kidd’s arrival at the Sun, ‘a return to where his national career started as a freelance 20 years ago.’
“It’s a great honour to follow them,” said Kidd. “My predecessor told me I was only the fourth chief sports writer on the paper and two of them, Steve Howard and John Sadler, were hugely encouraging when I was a rookie. I’m delighted to be going back to the paper where my national career started as a 22-year-old.”
If in 1996, Kidd was 22 in 1976 he’d have been a very young Sex Pistols fan.
Maybe it’s not only Wenger living in a post-Truth world?
Posted: 7th, February 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports | Comment
Media bias: Daily Mirror attacks Chelsea ‘killer’ Alonso over Arsenal ‘flying elbow’ goal
Chelsea v Arsenal. Early on in the match, Chelsea’s Marco Alonso scores. In the process he obliterates Hector Bellerin. Should the goal have stood? The media takes a look. It’s all pretty even handed reporting until the Daily Mirror gets in on the act. It sees fit to repeat an ugly tweet linking Alonso clattering Bellerin with a car accident in which a woman was killed – Alsono was driving the vehicle in 2011.
BBC: Bellerin taken off injured – hurt by Alonso’s elbow as Spaniard scores
Phil McNulty, BBC Sport chief football writer at Stamford Bridge:
Lots of debate here at Stamford Bridge about whether that was a foul by Marcos Alonso on Hector Bellerin for Chelsea’s goal. Clearly a collision but that was a natural jumping movement from Alonso and not every collision is a foul…so correct decision for me.
Telegraph:
Marcos Alonso bullied the smaller Bellerin in the aerial challenge to bury the rebound.
The Sun:
Alonso all but headed Bellerin into the net there as well. The Gunners’ full-back landed flat on his back. Very painful. He’ll need some TLC. Meanwhile, Gabriel tries a defender’s shot from 22 yards but like my npower dual fuel bill, it’s always rising.
The Guardian:
That was a very entertaining half of football. Chelsea lead through Marcos Alonso’s controversial goal
The Mirror calls it a “flying elbow”…
had the challenge been on the goalkeeper the referee would have given a free-kick against Alonso.
The Mirror then does something despicable. In 2011 Alonso was driving a car in Madrid. He was, reportedly, over the alcohol limit. A woman passenger was killed. Pathetic stuff from the Mirror.
The Express:
Marcos Alonso has battered Hector Bellerin there… barging Bellerin out of contention with his arm as he nodded home.
Faute Alonso sur Bellerin ! #chears pic.twitter.com/B02FG3GQBZ
— ARSENAL VINE (@VineOfArsenal) February 4, 2017
Posted: 4th, February 2017 | In: Arsenal, Chelsea, Sports | Comment
Arsenal balls: Wenger wants love as the Gunners as two more years of torpor looms
Arsene Wenger will remain at Arsenal for another two years if the fans show him ‘love’. Wenger’s current deal expires at the season’s end, and there is talk of a new two-year contract on the table, says the Mirror. And that’s odd because it wasn’t all that long ago the Mirror and its writer John Cross were telling readers that Wenger was leaving Arsenal in June. He had ‘set the date’.
Now over two pages, Cross says the Arsenal board and Wenger are ‘privately mystified’ why fans are unhappy that their team lost to Watford earlier this week. The Gunners had the chance to close the gap with table-topping Chelsea to 6 points but blew it. So limp was Arsenal’s performance that the Sun says Wenger gave his players’ two days off to recover.
Cross says that’s untrue. The players ‘did not have two days off after the game’. But they did have 45 minutes off during it. The first half was dire.
Over in the Express, Matthew Dunn says Arenal are ‘soft’ in the centre. The bad news for Gunners fans is that at Chelsea this weekend they will most likely field Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in central midfield, one of the game’s politest tacklers.
Since last winning the title, Arsenal have finished an average of 13 point behind the Premier League winners. Lose to Chelsea and they will 12 points behind.
Plus ca change, as they say at the Emirates, where board members made rich and lazy by Wenger’s top-four finishes continue to duck the kind of brave decision that gave brought the Frenchman to the club all those years ago.
Posted: 3rd, February 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports | Comment
Manchester United balls: good guy Mourinho blows his top
Last night Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho was ‘furious’, says the Daily Mail. His side had drawn 0-0 with Hull City. Mourinho ‘blows his top on TV’, says the paper. The ‘irate’ Manchester United boss ‘stormed out of a TV interview’.
How does the Sun cover the Manchester United boss’s latest hissy fit? It doesn’t. Nowhere in its reports on the match does the Sun mention Mourinho’s moodiness and ‘his hasty exit at the first opportunity just 90 seconds into his post-match interview’ (BBC).
Is the Sun a tad biased in Jose’s favour? After all, on January 26, the paper was sure Jose was on the up. His hair spoke volumes:
NEIL ASHTON – Jose Mourinho is back: Back to his old self. Back in the hunt for trophies. Back to his devilish, mischievous best
And on it went:
Jose Mourinho, what with his latest grade-one haircut from the Lowry Hotel barber, is looking razor sharp again. The good behaviour bond is almost into a third month, trouble-free after serving a one-match ban for booting a water bottle when he had a wobbly against West Ham.
Focused, and firmly in control again, Mourinho is on to something good.
Such are the facts.
Posted: 2nd, February 2017 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Sun writer mocks Liverpool player’s England win
The Sun newspaper is not popular among Liverpool fans. The Sun’s chief football reporter Neil Ashton noticed that Liverpool’s Adam Lallana has been voted the best player in the England team.
The Liverpool playmaker polled 39% of votes from members of the England Supporters Club. He was a clear winner, beating Jamie Vardy (12%) and Wayne Rooney (8%) into second and third places, respectively.
So what did the Sun’s man in the know have to say about the likeable Liverpool player?
He mocked him. “It’s like Iceland never happrned,” tweeted Ashton.
England lost 2-1 to Iceland at the European championships – a game in which Lallana was an unused substitute.
Such are the facts.
Posted: 1st, February 2017 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: Benzema takes his crack to Arsenal, Chelsea and France
Transfer balls: Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has seen enough of Karim Benzema. He wants one of Arsenal, Chelsea or Paris Saint-Germain to buy the Frenchman. Well, so say “reports from Spain” (Guardian). Which reports we’re not told. We could only find one. And it contains not a single quote or fact to support the story.
But the Telegraph’s man -in-the-yellow-tie has heard enough.The paper thunders:
Live Arsenal transfer news and rumours live updates: Arsene Wenger responds to suggestions Karim Benzema will sign
What did he say?
Wenger responds to Benzema rumours
The Arsenal manager was asked this morning why he is so often linked with a move for Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema. He responded: “Because he is French?”Cryptic stuff from Arsene.
Not cryptic at all. Just factual.
As for the root of this story, we turn to Diario Gol, the single source, which reports via the wonders of automated internet translation:
Florentino Perez places a Real Madrid crack in the showcase 24 hours after falling in the Copa del Rey
Calling Benzema a “crack” is a bit off. What else?
The president puts foot and a half of a footballer in the street…
And then:
The footballer is unofficially on sale, but the phone is already on fire. The first offers were soon to arrive.
From who?
The season was not good for the player. The patience of Florentino ended with the elimination of the team Zinedine Zidane at the hands of Celtic in the Cup .
Much more was expected of the striker. Give the team what is claimed. But he disappeared. It was a drag rather than a help and the leader got tired of the situation.
In addition, Cristiano Ronaldo occupy the position of ‘9’ uro sooner or later, and the club does not want the overbooking in the position of striker cause a problem to the team. And it is clear that in the Santiago Bernabeu prefer to stay with CR7 .
But who wants ‘le crack”? Who made an offer for him?
The Paris Saint Germain is the best club positioned to gain the services of Karim Benzema for next season. The white president stepped up negotiations with the French entity. It is one of the few that could take over his card and at the same time pay a transfer.
Next season PSG might want him. So why is this news in the current transfer window?
But PSG is the eternal rival Olympique of Lyon in Ligue 1 , the computer on which the French became a global crack. Respect for his followers could put an end to the transfer.
So Florentino opened other ways. Arsenal and Chelsea are the candidates. If the operation with the Parisian team is not successful, the president already has the alternative. Be that as it may, Karim can not continue in Real Madrid.
Put that utter balls through the Daily Mirror’s Transfer Balls Translator and you get:”Karim Benzema offered to Arsenal and Chelsea?”
That question mark fails to show up on Google News. So the story of a player on his way out of Spain and most likely returning to France is all about Arsenal and Chelsea.
Previously:
Such are the facts.
Posted: 30th, January 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Chelsea, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: Arsenal outbid Chelsea for Manchester United-bound Griezmann and Sanchez ‘escapes’
Transfer balls: a look at bad football reporting. Having been told for ages that Antoine Griezmann tops Manchester United’s list of transfer targets – and that Chelsea were buying the French striker for £40m and then £50m – the BBC reports that Arsenal will try to get him for £85m.
The BBC’s source is the Mail on Sunday. But its report is very light on facts. Readers are told that Manchester United “believe they are in pole position to land Antoine Griezmann”. Arsenal “are expected” to bid for the Atletico Madrid star. It is “widely expected” rich clubs will bid for Griezmann this summer.
The Sun expands on the ‘what ifs’ and ‘maybes’ by saying that should Griezmann leave, Atletico will buy Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez. This will be – get his – Sanchez’s “escape route” out of Arsenal.
So will Sanchez from part of a cash and flesh deal for Griezmann? No, says the Sun. “The Spaniards are resigned to losing Antoine Griezmann to Manchester United this summer.”
The Sun says Atletico will offer Sanchez £220,000 a week. That’s much better than the “£160,000- a-week deal currently on offer for Sanchez to sign a new contract with the Gunners”.
But Sun told readers back in November that Arsenal will have to “stump up £200,000-a-week each if they want Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez to sign new deals with the club.” That’s a lot of money – but less than the £250,000-a-week the Express reported Sanchez was seeking in October.
In December, the Mail told its readers, “Sanchez wants £250,000 per week, while Arsenal’s current offer is £180,000”. That was Arsenal’s “opening offer”.
Such are the facts.
Posted: 29th, January 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Chelsea, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Liverpool Balls: tabloids want Klopp out but heap praise on Manchester United under Mourinho
When is it safe to write off Liverpool’s Premier League chances?
Jeremy Cross tells Daily Star readers that Jurgen Kloop ‘doesn’t deserve the sack’. Who said he was being sacked? Liverpool are fourth in the Premier League – two points off second place and 10 points from the top. They made it to the semi-finals of the EFL Cup. Last season, Liverpool finished runners-up in the EFL Cup and the Europa League.
Liverpool are one point behind Tottenham, of which the Star wrote On January 24, Dele Alli is “the key to Tottenham winning the Premier League”.
Spurs on 46 points can win the title but Liverpool on 45 points are thinking of sacking their manager? That’s one hell of a big point.
Says Cross:
‘Having lost twice to Southampton in the EFL Cup semi-finals, Klopp resembles a man on the run as the critics round on him.’
Liverpool fans might care to compare and contrast those words with Neil Ashton’s opinion of Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho, whose plucky side last night lost 2-1 to big-spending Hull City last night but still progressed to the EFL Cup final. Wrote Ashton of Mourinho four days ago.
‘He is back. Back to his old self. Back in the hunt for trophies. Back to his devilish, mischievous best. Focused, and firmly in control again, Mourinho is on to something good.’
Manchester United are four points behind Liverpool:
And there was Rio Ferdinand in the Daily Mirror:
“The next window is a big one for United in terms of getting players out and getting some in who will invigorate his squad and be able to carry out his methods. I like what Mourinho has done. He has shown again he is a top manager. We have seen with Pep Guardiola how difficult it is to get right…Jose is doing that really well.”
Chelsea fans might well scoff. Blues’ manager Antonio Conte is in his first season at the club. Chelsea are eight points clear at the top of the table. If Mourinho is doing really well in sixth, what’s Conte doing? Incidentally, Ferdinand said of Conte at the start of the season:
“Conte will need time to find his feet. I don’t think he will win the Premier League in his first season because he has a big job on his hands there.”
The Mirror also has a pop at Klopp., who has ‘run them into the ground’. ‘German’s training regime “too intense” say critics.’
In the Sun, the aforesaid Ashton says with Steven Gerrard back at Liverpool, Klopp’s days are numbered. ‘The problem will be when the people at Anfield start wondering out loud whether the iconic figure in the stands could do a better job than the fella currently in it,’ he writes.
To recap: Liverpool are in fourth place, two points off second spot, ahead of both Manchester United and Manchester City.
Posted: 27th, January 2017 | In: Liverpool, manchester united, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Arsenal: Wenger’s ‘six match’ ban delivered in a laundry basket
When Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger called referee Jon Moss a “f****ing cheat” as his side toiled to a very late win over Burnley, he was sent off. Stood in the tunnel, Wenger was regaled with the cry heard at all-seater stadia to “Sit Down!” He refused. The fourth official insisted. So Wenger shoved Anthony Taylor, for it was he.
For his pains, Wenger’s been charged with misconduct by the FA.
Wenger now faces a “massive ban” says the Sun. The Mirror agrees. How big? Two matches and £20,000, says the Sun. The FA must be delighted. Twenty grand for the kind of aggro that was more purse than handbags.
Wenger apologised. “I regret everything,” he says,” I should have shut up, gone in and gone home.” And thereby beat the traffic, we might add.
Nonetheless, Dave Kidd wants Wenger “hit with a lengthy stadium ban”. The FA must send out message that “you must not manhandle referees”.
The Mail says a touchline ban is the most likely outcome. The paper’s tame referee Graham Poll wants Wenger banned for six matches.
The Mirror wants three.
Whatever it is, it’ll be good news of the Wenger Out camp, who will get to watch the match without their target in sight.
What it amounts to is not all that much. The manager coaches his team before the match. There are also mobile phones through which he can talk to his assistants as he watches the game on the telly. And then there was baskets. In 2005, Jose Mourinho circumvented a stadium ban by clambered into a laundry skip to gain entry to the Chelsea dressing room. Ten minutes before the end he was wheeled away to Stamford Bridge leisure club where, according to reports, he spent the night.
Wenger might try a similar move. Although he’ll need a bigger basket. Or there’s always a loud hailor. The Emirates could do with someone making some noise.
Posted: 24th, January 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports | Comment
Media Bias: Chelsea website continues to deliver post-truth match reports as Hull are robbed
Media Bias: Chelsea beat Hull City 2-0 today in the Premier League. With the score at 1-0 to Chelsea, a Hull player tumbled in the home side’s penalty area. Should a penalty have been given? Let’s see what the reporters say:
The Hull City website says they were robbed:
Hernandez should have been awarded a penalty early in the second half when he was tripped by Marcos Alonso inside the box, but again appeals fell on deaf ears.
What about Hull’s local newspaper?
The Hull Daily Mail appraises Abel Hernandez’s performance:
The isolated front man at the tip of City’s attack but got no favours from the officials. Denied a foul in the build-up to Chelsea’s opener and then a clear-cut penalty in the second half.
The Guardian says: “That was a clear penalty, a clumsy foul by Alonso on Hernandez. He was beaten to the ball on the edge of the area and kicked Hernandez’s heel.”
Get West London says Hull “were unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty after the break when Marcos Alonso brought down Abel Hernandez”.
The London Evening Standard says: “Somehow Hull not awarded a penalty for a blatant foul by Alonso on Hernandez.”
The Telegraph: “Chelsea were even more fortunate that a penalty was not awarded against them four minutes after the restart when Alonso clearly clipped the heel of Hernandez.”
And on the Chelsea website, football’s version of Pravda? Nothing. The official Chelsea website makes no mention of either ‘foul’.
Such are the facts.
Posted: 22nd, January 2017 | In: Back pages, Chelsea, Sports | Comment
Media bias: Arsenal get lucky as Burnley go down in the 98th minute
Media Bias: In a crazy end to what had looked like a routine win for Arsenal, Burley scored from the spot in the 94th minute. And then Laurent Koscielny was caught in the head by a high Ben Mee boot. Penalty! Arsenal scored it in the 98th minute and the game is won 2-1.
With Arsenal 1-0 up, the Gunners’ Granit Xhaka was sent off for a lunge on Steven Defour. Then his manager Arsene Wenger was sent off for arguing with the officials.
What says the media about Arsenal’s last-gasps penalty?
The BBC: [Referee Jon] Moss penalised Mee for a high foot on Koscielny, who appeared to be offside when the free-kick was flighted in to the back post, but once that was missed, a penalty was a fair result for the challenge.
So the Arsenal man was offside. But the penalty was fair?
The Guardian calls it an “excellent decision from the referee”.
The Burnley Express is less delighted. Its match report harked back to the teams’ previous meeting, when Arsenal scored a winner late on.
After Laurent Koscielny was central to the storm at Turf Moor in October, handling the ball over the line from an offside position late on, the Frenchman was in the thick of it once more.
That goal came in the 94th minute.
The Burnley Express continues:
Referee Jon Moss awarded a penalty… penalising Ben Mee for a high boot on the Arsenal skipper who, for a second time, was stood in an offside position.
The London Evening Standard merely says of the incident, “Laurent Koscielny was kicked by Ben Mee in the area.”
The Burnley FC website calls the penalty “controversial”.
The Arsenal website sees no controversy:
Alexis swung in a cross from the left that arrowed towards the far post, where Ben Mee caught Laurent Koscielny in the face with a high boot. Moss awarded Arsenal the penalty and Alexis, showing incredible composure, sent a panenka down the middle from the spot to seal a precious victory.
Such are the facts.
Posted: 22nd, January 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports | Comment
Media bias: Sterling pays the penalty as Spurs get lucky as Manchester City
Media Balls – a look at biased footballer reporting. Today Manchester City drew 2-2 with Tottenham. With the game 2-1 in City’s favour, Raheem Sterling was through on the Spurs goal. Spurs defender Kyle Walker was closest to Sterling. What happened next?
The BBC gives us the facts:
Raheem Sterling leaves the Spurs defence smoking exit dust as he breezes onto a through ball – just the keeper to beat with Kyle Walker pedaling hard to catch up..
But Sterling can’t take the chance, he’s off balance as he prods tamely towards Lloris – and it looks like Walker’s hand in the back is to blame.
Foul, then? Red card for Walker. Penalty to City. Nothing given. What do the clubs and their local newspapers say on the matter?
The Spurs website: “Kolarov sent Sterling clear, Walker got back at him, poor finish, easy for Lloris.”
Walker recovered. Sterling is rubbish. Lloris makes it look easy.
Manchester Evening News: “Walker should have been sent off for a push on Sterling as he was about to pull the trigger. Sterling had raced through for yet another one-on-one with Lloris but it ended up a soft shot into his grateful arms.”
Such are the facts.
Posted: 21st, January 2017 | In: Back pages, Manchester City, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Leyton Orient is now twinned with North Korea: read the chief executive bizarre stament
Leyton Orient FC have issued a bizarre statement concerning the club’s future. When owner Francesco Becchetti took over in 2014, they were League One play-off finalist, narrowly lowing to Rotherham on penalties. They are now close to the bottom of League Two. In that time Orient have employed NINE managers. No player from that play-off final defeat remains at the club.
Leyton Orient’s chief executive, Alessandro Angelier has written to the fans. It’s not unlike something the North Korean would put out.
“The actions of the club over the past two-and-a-half years have always been in good faith and that can never be doubted. Mr Becchetti did not like the fan protests because at the beginning of the season everyone, supporters included, praised the club for their summer transfer business. Thereafter Mr Becchetti doesn’t play on Saturday.
“I think that within common sense, Mr Becchetti will continue to fund the club, though appropriate offers for the club will be considered. One offer has been received, but it was not acceptable for a number of reasons.”
Names are named.
“In regards to player departures … Jordan Bowery’s contribution during the first half of the season was imperceptible, so his departure can be considered neutral.
“[The players at the club now have] a massive desire that was lacking from players in the past like Darius Henderson, Jobi McAnuff and Jordan Bowery.”
And then this:
“I think that my absence due to ill health could have had some negative effect, but I believe even further that the absence of Mr Becchetti during the last three months has had a more negative impact on the squad.
“His personal business did not allow him to be close to the team, when he would usually come to the training ground every Friday and to the games on a Saturday.
“Mr Becchetti has a great charisma and the players definitely feel his absence.”
Daily Express tricks Arsenal fans with deceptive clickbait headline
Click Balls: a look at dire football reporting designed to trick readers. The Daily Express has news for Arsenal fans. The paper’s headline is a scoop. “CONFIRMED: Arsene Wenger announces new Arsenal deal.” Looks like Wenger will stay at Arsenal for even longer. It’s 20 years and counting.
But wait a minute…
The Daily Star, from the same stable as the Express, has a similar take on the news that defender Per Mertesacker has signed a one-year extension on his current deal. This is how Google sees the story:
And you wonder why the Press is in trouble?
Update: The Express seems to have found an editor who respects their readers and doesn’t seem them as advertisers’ fodder. The headline has now been altered:
Posted: 19th, January 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Transfer balls: Manchester United have £70m for Bernardo Silva
Transfer Balls: the Sun leads with Manchester United’s summer bid for Monaco’s Portuguese “ace” Bernardo Silva. On top of the £85m Man United have earmarked for Antoine Griezmann’s signature is £70m for Silva.
Is it true? A year ago, the Express said Barcelona and Chelsea were looking at Bernardo. Have they gone cold on the midfielder?
Silva is managed by – yep – Jose Mourinho’s agent Jorge Mendes, a man routinely billed as “super-agent”, who vies with Super Banker for the title of World’s Least Admirable Super Hero.
What truth there is in the story of Silva to Manchester United is hard to ascertain because the Sun produces not a single quote to support is claim. Still, it must be great for Mendes to know how much 10% of £70m is and for Silva, worth €15.75 million one year ago, to be linked with a big money move to the Premier League.
Bernardo Mota Veiga de Carvalho e Silva is contracted to Monaco until 30 June 2019.
Posted: 19th, January 2017 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Clickbait Balls: Daily Telegraph tricks ‘paranoid’ Liverpool and Manchester United fans
The Manchester United v Liverpool match was memorable for a number of things, according to the clickbait-mad Press.
The Mirror’s football expert learned “five things” from watching the game, one of which is that Paul Pogba’s “handball handed Liverpool the early advantage”. That was the handball that gave Liverpool a penalty kick, from which they scored their only goal of the game. David McDonnell leaned that. He also learned that Wayne Rooney got a yellow card and “Ibrahimovic keeps on scoring”, which he did when he scored United’s equaliser.
The Express also learned five things, one of which is, “Simon Mignolet put on a solid display.”
Coincidentally, the Sun also learned five things. Fred Nathan delivers his fistful of insight. He watched Pogba give away a penalty and learned that he “must not let silly mistakes creep into his game”.
In the Indy, which didn’t make enough money to remain as proper paper so went web only, there are just four things learned. But Fox News, which has oodles of money, learned seven things. Ryan Rosenblatt learned that when United and Liverpool drop points, their rivals are pleased. The other top sides “love this result” he learned.
But the prize for the biggest Clickbait Balls goes to the dire Daily Telegraph. The once great newspaper is now a clickbait factory. “Martin Tyler accused of ‘bias’ following Manchester United vs Liverpool commentary,” says the headline. It also says just that in the URL for the story:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/01/15/martin-tyler-accused-bias-following-manchester-united-vs-liverpool/
So who accused Sky TV’s commentator of bias? Liverpool boss Jugen Klopp? Manchester Untied manager Jose Mourinho? Well, no. A clue to how the story was the product of the paper’s clickbait factory is in the now revised headline: “Liverpool fans round on Martin Tyler following Manchester United’s last minute equaliser at Old Trafford.”
They “rounded on” Tyler on Twitter. The Telegraph picks three tweets to back up its story, which beings: “Paranoid Liverpool fans are becomingly increasingly convinced that SkySports’ Martin Tyler is a secret Manchester United fan.”
Tweet 1:
@dreamteamfc
Martin Tyler just called Zlatan: “THE TOWER OF POWER!” #MUNLIV
Tweet 2:
@StephenDuffy6
Still coming to terms with the fact Martin Tyler just called Zlatan the ‘Tower of Power’, since when has that been a thing?
Lest you think those “paranoid” Liverpool fans are just having a laugh and mocking Tyler’s absurd phrase, @Footy Humour tweets the third piece of evidence.
Tweet 3:
Martin Tyler: “Rooney here. Is it in the script? Is it in the stars?”
*Rooney gives away posession*
Martin Tyler: *silence*
The troubling thing is that the clickbait works. The story even the Telegraph recognised as bad enough to warrant a chance of headline (but not a change of URL) is the second biggest story on the paper’s website:
Such are the facts.
Posted: 16th, January 2017 | In: Back pages, Broadsheets, Liverpool, manchester united, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
West Ham United: Payet does to Bilic what Bilic did to Redknapp
West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic is upset and let down by Dimitri Payet’s moves to leave the club. In 1997, when Bilic was a player at West Ham, the club’s manager at the time, Harry Redknapp, was also frustrated and upset with his star turn’s machinations.
Whoops.
Posted: 16th, January 2017 | In: Back pages, Sports | Comments (2)
Media bias: Everton get lucky as Manchester City are robbed in Liverpool
Everton thumped Manchester City 4-0 in the Premier League today. As ever, we’re on the look out for biased reporting. In the first half, with the scores 0-0, City’s Raheem Sterling went down in the Everton box. No penalty given. But were City robbed?
The BBC says it was a good tackle: “Leighton Baines slid in to deny Raheem Sterling an opening early on.”
The Guardian blames Sterling: “Sterling misses a sitter, and wants a penalty!… He tries to take the ball round the keeper, Baines slides in to block it, and Sterling goes over Robles’ trailing leg!”
So much for the neutral viewpoint. What about the publications with a vested interested in the match?
Manchester Evening Post: “With Robles rushing out, and Baines making a last-ditch challenge, the winger chooses to take a touch and trips over.”
He trips over what? “It’s the slightest of touches from Robles that ultimately brings Sterling down,” the report continues.
So it was a foul. He was tripped.
The Liverpool Echo: “Raheem Sterling went down in the area, with replays seeming to confirm he had been tripped by Joel Robles.”
Replays only “seemed” to show that Raheem Sterling had been fouled.
Everton FC (official website): “Leighton Baines kept a cool head and combined with Joel Robles to thwart the City forward, but the Spanish goalkeeper may have taken the legs of Sterling.”
Only “may”? Was Sterling fouled? Does anyone have a clear answer?
Manchester City (official site): “TV replays proved he’d been caught.”
It was definitely a foul, then – but only if you read the official City website.
Posted: 15th, January 2017 | In: Back pages, Manchester City, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: Diego Costa’s Chelsea pain opens the door for Muller and Morata
What’s Diego Cost been up to this weekend? Some say the Chelsea striker is injured. Others say he’s been dropped for brooding and rowing, behaving off the pitch much like he does on it. As his manager Antonio Costa put it when asked when his main striker will return to the side, “I don’t know how long it will take, I don’t have his pain. We’ll see about this next week.”
Reports abound that Costa is looking for a huge-money move to China. Will he go? Not if his team-mates have anything to do with it he won’t. The Telegraph says Costa’s Chelsea team-mates have asked him to apologise over his reported row with the club’s fitness coaches.
Match of the Day pundit Ian Wright can’t see that happening. “Costa doesn’t seem like the sort of person who cares what people think,” says Wright. “Whatever happens – if it’s his back it’s very hard to detect – something has turned him.”
Money, perhaps?
ESPN hears from Costa’s friends (unnamed) who say he doesn’t want to go to China. The Mirror says Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has no intention to selling Costa.
But in case he does, Roman will find the cash to buy Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid (Sun) and / or Bayern Munich’s Thomas Muller (Express).
Unless the Chinese get to them first and back backs prove to be contagious.
Posted: 15th, January 2017 | In: Back pages, Chelsea, Sports | Comment
Chelsea transfer balls: Costa waves the imaginary red card at himself and heads to China
Chelsea striker Diego Costa, 28, is off to China in a transfer worth £80m to Chelsea, says the BBC. His move will hand the Premier League title to anyone but Chelsea and earn the striker a mere 576,000 per week.
The pay packet would see Costa elevated to the rank of the world’s second highest paid footballer, one yacht-a-week behind Shanghai Shenua’s Carlos Tevez, says the Daily Express.
The Times says Costa’s departure would be a “blow” to the Blues. It’d be windier than that. Costa’s been rampant this season.
The Guardian notes that Costa might already have played his last game for Chelsea. The PL’s top scorer has been dropped from the Blues squad for their match at Leicester City. Why? Well, the paper says Costa “clashed” with one of Chelsea’s fitness coaches “over an injury he feels he has been carrying… Costa has not trained fully this week and Antonio Conte has become involved in the argument.”
To stir the pot a little further, Costa’s agent, Jorge Mendes, is reportedly in China.
To add another layer of weirdness, on Friday Costa’s Instagram account bellowed “Come on Chelsea!!!!” to his 1.7 million followers. The following message did not add “Come on Chelsea!!!! You scumbags!!!!!! Let me got to the Chinese Super League or I’ll cry, point to my ankle and grass you up to the ref!!!”
Ironic, indeed, that a player notable for his perceived interest in seeing other players sent off should be waving the imaginary red card at himself.
Your move, Chelsea.
Posted: 14th, January 2017 | In: Back pages, Chelsea, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: Chelsea want Middlesbrough’s Gibson, Everton’s number 1 and number 2 target
Transfer balls: Following news that Bournemouth fancy signing Chelsea’s John Terry on loan til the season’s end, the Mirror says the Blues are in the market for a new centre back. So they’re “lining up Middlesbrough’s Ben Gibson as their No.1 target”.
Everton also want Gibson. The Mirror told us on January 4 that should Everton fail to sign Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk, they’ll move for Gibson. Everton wanted him back on April 27 2016, when the Mirror reported: “Everton line up Middlesbrough defender Ben Gibson as replacement for John Stones.”
Stones joined Manchester City. Everton never put an offer in for Gibson, “their No1 target… rated in the £4m class.”
Was Gibson really Everton’s number one targets over the summer? No. Because in July 2015, the Mirror told us Everton were chasing Nemanja Vidic and Gibson was the back-up plan. “The Toffees hope to bring the Inter Milan defender back to the Premier League,” said the Mirror, “but are also eyeing Middlesbrough’s Ben Gibson in case they can’t.”
Everton never did buy Vidic. They never stood a chance of getting him. Well, not it your read the Daily Mail on March 25, 2015, which stated: “Nemanja Vidic will stay with Inter Milan despite being linked with return to England.”
As for Gibson, Everton must regret not buying the £4m-rated player because he’s now worth a whole lot more. The Express reported on December 6 2016: “MIDDLESBROUGH star Ben Gibson will reportedly cost Chelsea and Everton a staggering £35m – and there’s no chance of a deal in January.”
Such are the facts.
PS: On 4 April 2015, the Mirror reported: “Liverpool and Manchester City to battle for homegrown Middlesbrough starlet Ben Gibson.” How much? Around the £4m the Mirror said he was worth, right? Wrong. “Gibson could command a fee as high as £10million.”
Posted: 12th, January 2017 | In: Back pages, Chelsea, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: Liverpool see Coutinho’s price soar as Manchester United swoop for Spurs duo
The Mirror leads with news that Liverpool have no intention of selling Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona for £60m. “NOU CHANCE,” puns the paper.” Liverpool manger Jurgen Klopp says “no amount of money” will force him to sell his star player.
Wishful thinking, of course. Every player has their price. After all on December 26, the Mirror reported: “Liverpool transfer news and rumours: Paris Saint-Germain plotting £40million Philippe Coutinho swoop.” Putting a price alongside a player’s name is simple.
Over in the Sun, the figure of £60m also figures large on the back page. This time it’s the sum Manchester United are willing to invest in Spurs full-backs Kyle Walker and Danny Rose. But United won’t have it easy. The paper adds that Manchester City will fight United for the England players.
Walker and Rose each earn around £70,000-a-week at Spurs. Given that Spurs are better than United and outplayed City this season, it’s surely only money that will make either of them move.
Mark Irwin tells Spurs fans to expect the worst. Needing money for their new £750m stadium, Spurs will cash on on their star turns. Irwin notes that Rose, Walker and other young Spurs players, like Dele Alli Harry Kane, Eric Dier and Christian Eriksen, know they could earn far more at Chelsea, Arsenal or either of the Manchester clubs.
Posted: 10th, January 2017 | In: Back pages, Chelsea, Manchester City, manchester united, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Transfer balls: Everton should wait for Manchester United reject Schneiderlin
Transfer balls: Manchester United are trying to offload Morgan Schneiderlin, 27. In July 2015, the Frenchman joined Manchester United for £25m rising to £27 million. The 25-year-old midfielder signed a four-year contract with the option to extend it by a further year. He’s paid £100,000 a week.
And now United want him out. According to the Daily Mail, United have told Everton they will have to pay more than £20m for Schneiderlin. The Indy says the Toffees will offer £22m. Other sources say they want the full sum the player has cost them.
Schneiderlin is costing United a fortune and not playing. Every week, his value is going down.
He joined Southampton for £1.2 million in 2008. He was tremendous, topping the Premier League’s rankings in 2013 for both interceptions (he ended up with 139) and tackles (146). So what’s gone wrong? Manchester United erred. They saw the man at the top of the list for tackles and thought he’d do the same for them. Stats were all that mattered to United’s scouts. United lacked vision. A club whose recruitment policy is now driven by box office appeal just tossed money at the problem of how to get the club back on top. Schneiderlin didn’t get worse. United bought the wrong player.
In 2013, Ed Woodward, the United dealmaker, told United We Stand, the United fanzine, how the club targets players in the post-Ferguson era: “I don’t like the fact that there are consistently more players from Spain on the [Ballon d’Or shortlist]. We as a club should be aspiring to have the best players playing for us.”
As Oliver Kay nots in the Times: ‘Under Woodward, it has always seemed more about “the best players” than creating “the best team”.’
Arriving as a teenager, Schneiderlin thrived at Southampton, a club that invests in young talent. The Saints have produced since 2000 – deep breath – Adam Lallana, Gareth Bale, Calum Chambers, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Luke Shaw. What price United nurturing young players to rise through the ranks to form a team under Jose Mourinho?
Posted: 9th, January 2017 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Arsenal: Wenger paves way for Wilshere’s return
Media Balls: Does Arsene Wenger regret allowing Jack Wilshere to leave Arsenal for Bournemouth on a season-long loan? Sky says he does. Injury has left Arsenal shot in midfield (plus ca change). Sky‘s headline thunders:
But Wenger doesn’t regret anything. What Wenger actually says is:
“I could use him now. But if he had not played until now, he would not be ready to play now. What looks unfair at some moments in the season is that you know at some stage you could need the player… And still today I think it was the right decision for him to go.”
Wilshere was rotting at Arsenal. He’s played 17 of Bournemouth’s 20 Premier League matches – missing both games against Arsenal because rules forbid him playing his parent club. Of course Arsenal could use his nous now, his give-and-gos and box-to-box style. But with no recall clause in his Bournemouth deal, the Gunners can’t get him back.
“It’s slightly old-fashioned and a step back in time in terms of other Premier League clubs and he deserves huge credit for that,” said Bournemouth manger Eddie Howe when Wilshere picked Bournemouth over a host of other clubs vying for his services. “The fact he’s willing to come here for football reasons, rather than anything else, speaks volumes.”
Wilshere needed games after getting so little football at Arsenal. He’s thriving at Bournemouth. Would he have made the same progress at Arsenal this season or still be off the pace? Wenger knows the answer to that.
Posted: 7th, January 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: Sanchez quits, Wenger leaves and no-one arrives at fighting Arsenal
Transfer balls: Is Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez ready to leave the Gunners? The BBC says “Arsenal players fear” he is.
The Mail agrees. Sami Mokbel writes in an ‘exclusive’, “Seething Sanchez blows his top at Arsenal.” The Chilean “threw a tantrum” on the pitch as Arsenal came from 0-3 down to draw 3-3 with Bournemouth. That tantrum amounted to Sanchez throwing his gloves to the turf and… And that’s it.
He was “unhappy” the Gunners hadn’t won, reveals Mokbel . He “sulked” in the changing room. He made is “clear” he was unhappy not to have won. Well, quite. Arenal fans and players want him to be keen on winning, surely. Sanchez plays to win. He has an “ultra-determined nature”.
“GUNNER GO?” asks the Mirror in is ‘exclusive’ on the same Sanchez ‘exclusive’ the Mail delivered. No longer sulking, Sanchez is throwing a “hissy fit” in the Arsenal dressing room as “Arsenal suffered a major blow in their title hopes”. Or as the Mirror put it yesterday: “The Gunners looked down and out on the south coast, but they showed a fantastic desire to get back into the game and created a Premier League first in the process.”
John Cross says Arsenal will buy no new players until Sanchez’s contract is sorted out. Ora s the BBC says today:
Hednesford Town youngster Cohen Bramall is to make the move from non-league to Premier League, by signing for Arsenal. The 20-year-old left-back will leave the Staffordshire-based Northern Premier League side for north London.
Cross is an expert on Arsenal stuff. He tells us that Arsene Wenger is out of contract this summer, “but there is a two-year deal worth £8m a year on the table waiting to be signed.”
Or as Cross and the Mirror put it:
Such are the facts.
Posted: 5th, January 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports | Comment
