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.
Farewell, then, Jose Mourinho, sacked at Chelsea for the second time. You were the self-styled Special One. You were then ‘The Happy One’. Now you are ‘Taxi For One’.
The Daily Mail never saw it coming. Its back page today stated that Jose was “safe”.
Pep Guardiola has moved “one step closer” to Manchester City says the Mirror. The paper leads with news that Pep Guardiola is “poised to join his old Barcelona mates and quit Bayern Munich for Manchester millions”.
It seems odd that a man at the top of football would be in it for the money, as the Mirror implies. Does he really want to live in Manchester? Would he not prefer to wait for a London club, say, Arsenal, where his style of football would be an easy fit?
The Sun says Arsenal would suit Pep, but they have less money to spend on top players and Arsene Wenger is not leaving.
As for the wages, Marca says Bayern have offered Pep £14.5m (€20m) a season. He’s not exactly shy of big-money offers. So why City? Well, he has worked with The Citizens’ chief executive, Ferran Soriano, and the director of football, Txiki Begiristain. Those are his “Barcelona mates”.
So much for the headlines. But reading on in the Mirror we learn that Pep is not poised to join City. He has simply announced that he will make his decision on whether or not to remain at Bayern Munich in the next week. However German magazine Kicker does say he is definitely on his way out.
Guardiola is in the final year of his contract with Germany’s champions. What he’s going to do next is largely a matter of media guesswork. The Guardian says “his availability next season would also appeal to Manchester United and possibly Chelsea”. The Times says Chelsea is not an option because Pep was “unsettled by Roman Abramovich’s relentless pursuit while he was enjoying time away from the game in New York”.
The Sun returns to the Pep pay packet, saying Chelsea will pay him the most. They want him to “name his price”. City will offer him £84m over four years. Chelsea will top that and throw in a glitzy life in London.
Pep has options. That much is clear. But the Mirror says he’s on his way to City for sure. In fact, he’s already “lined up stars” to play for him at the Etihad, players like Paul Pogba and John Stones.
What would it cost Chelsea to sack Jose Mourinho? The newspapes know.
The Daily Mail says “Roman Abramovich will be forced to pay Jose Mourinho more than £40million“.
The Mirror says sacking Mourinho “could cost £40m“.
The Express says it would cost a “staggering £37.5m“.
The Independent says, “If Mourinho were to be sacked then he may insist on his compensation being paid in full, a package that could cost Abramovich above £30m.”
The Telegraph says “Jose Mourinho due £10m compensation if he is sacked”.
In today’s tabloid football round-up, we look first at the Sun, which leads with news of “Revolt” at Manchester United and “Blue Murder” at Chelsea.
“Chelsea’s flops are turning on boss Jose Mourinho,” write Andrew Dillon and Shaun Curtis. A “source” tells us that Jose is being “SLAYED IN CHELSEA”. We’re then asked to wonder if Jose is morphing into Rafa Benitez, a man not all that popular at Stamford Bridge. But unlike Rafa, Jose’s job is safe because there are no “viable alternatives”.
In “no fight club”, Chelsea fan Rory Jennings says the team are “soft”. He evokes players like Ron Harris, Dennis Wise and John Terry to emphasise just how tough Chelsea used to be. He omits to mention that before Roman Abramovich’s billions, Chelsea were losers who sold cars by the side of the pitch and pulled in smallish gates as one of the Second Division’s larger clubs.
Chelsea fans moaning about their “crisis” is laughable. But, then, for most current Chelsea fans their support began when dad took them to a padded seat at the Bridge on their way to the rugger.
After three pages of what’s wrong with Chelsea, football fans get one page of what’s right with Leicester City, who sit top of the Premier League after victory over Jose’s overpaid dullards. News is that Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy will not be sold in January. Good. Of course, should a huge offer come in for one or either, Leicester might be tempted.
Returning to the Sun’s Manchester United’s scoop, the story is that some players at Old Trafford have found reason to think Louis Van Gaal’s tactics are a bit plodding. Which they are. A few players have told him where he’s going wrong. The odds on the hammer headed Dutchman listening to their advise is thinner than Jose’s smile.
The Star leads with more Chelsea news. Readers learn that Roman Abramovich will “NOT sanction a Chelsea spending spree next month”. This is the same Roman who made Chelsea what they are today with a £1bn interest-free loan. One page on and we lean that the Blues have £40m for Everton’s John Stones. The Blues buy players. It’s what they do.
The Express’s lead story is that Stones is gong nowhere. Yet.
The Mirror leads with news of players leaving Chelsea. The back page has Jose telling Eden Hazard “I should have sold you in the summer”. He’s right. One year ago, Hazards was being talked about as one of the game’s greats. This season he’s a busted flush, trying but lacking inspiration and zip.
Over two pages, the Mirror looks at Leicester city. It invites seven of the game’s names to answer the question: “Will Leicester in the Premier League?” All of them say…’no’.
Transfer balls: and now for a Daily Star masterclass is utter tosh:
Luis Suarez to Man Utd, Real eye all-star Arsenal duo, Liverpool deal close
Story 1: Suarez to Manchester United:
BuzzSport report, United bosses are concerned they will fall short in their pursuits of the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo or Paul Pogba.
Unable to sign any of those players, United will – get this – swoop for Luis Suarez.
…they are looking into the possibility of a move for Suarez, hoping he could be tempted by a return to the Premier League.
Possible. Hope. Could.
Story 2: Ozil and Sanchez to Real Madrid
Reports from Spanish press Don Balon claim that the La Liga giants want the Gunners’ star duo Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil.
Facts to support the Spanish magazine’s claim: zero.
Story 3: Liverpool deal
Simon Mignolet is set to be handed a new deal by Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp despite his latest blunder.
Undated: Ski Jumper Eddie Edwards of Great Britain poses for the camera during a feature in his home town of Cheltenham, England. Mandatory Credit: Allsport UK /Allsport
At the 1988 Winter Olympics Edward “Eddie the Eagle” Edwards was one of the stars. Each one of his ski-jumps for Great Britain was must-see TV.
When Eddie soared.
13-28 Feb 1988: Eddie Edwards of Great Britain gives the thumbs up before the 70 metres Ski Jump event during the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, Canada. Mandatory Credit: Gray Mortimore/Allsport
Former Chelsea player David Luiz is worried about going bald. He’s been researching how it can be prevented. Short of dying young with his ringlets still inserted in his scalp, he could do as as other have done and walk about Los Angeles with a hat on for some months, enjoying the city where the likes of fellow beanie hat wearers Brad Pitt and David Beckham hang out. It is an established fact that anyone wearing a beanie hat in the LA sunshine is prevented from every going bald. See also: being in The Rolling Stones.
But David Luiz had found a new method. Speaking in an interview with Journal du Dimanche, PSG’s Brazilian centre-half announced:
I know I look crazy but I am not! It is just hair… Yes, my father is bald. But I found a way to save my hair.
I met with a doctor in Brazil, who has developed a special treatment. It takes some cells from here (your hip) and then relocates then.
I will do it. In ten years it will be the solution for people who have lost their hair. You should try it!
Nice of David to offer everyone cells form his hop, but best to wait until his playing days are open lest he become lopsided and take to running around in circles like the current Chelsea defence.
TheDaily Express says this January Chelsea will return with a £40m bid for Everton’s John Stones. This is, of course, a complete guess, based on the Chelsea’s failed moves for Stones over the summer.
The Blues failed with £40m in the summer, and a combination of their bad form and Everton’s consistency and optimism will will surely only necessitate and much higher bid.
A few days ago. the Independent said Manchester United will offer £50m for Stones.
Simon Jones ups the ante, telling Daily Mail readers that Barcelona are also after the English defender. There were noises linking Stones to Barcelona before, but the Catalans instead bought Jeremy Mathieu from Valencia for £14.5m and Thomas Vermaelen from Arsenal for £15m.
Right now Stones is earning £30,000 a week at Everton. If he’s worth £50m, then surely his wages will have match the £200,000-a-week Manchester City pay their £50m striker Raheem Sterling. That surely leaves Arsenal out of the running – and Everton unable to hold onto their star.
When plucky Liverpool drew 2-2 with big-spending West Bromwich Albion, Reds manager Jurgen Klopp got the party started at a jubilant Anfield. They’ll be talking about his at Anfield for years:
Transfer balls: Arsenal have bought Aleksandr Kokorin. Well so says the Daily Telegraph:
Only, they haven’t. The paper reports:
Aleksandr Kokorin has been linked with Arsenal throughout the summer and autumn but finally seems to be set for a winter move to the Emirates according to reports in Metro that a £4.3m deal has been agreed for the Dynamo Moscow striker.
The Metro? Over there, the news is confirmed in a headline. Below it we read George Bellshaw’s scoop:
Arsenal will sign Dynamo Moscow striker Aleksandr Kokorin, according to reports in Russia….the deal will be tied up in January with Kokorin agreeing personal terms with Arsenal, according to Russian outlet Izvestia.
Over on that Russian website we read that Kokorin is in talks with his current club. His contract with Dynamo Moscow expires in the summer. The Russians did offer the player a contract extension, but money’s tight so the new offer was for him play on for less money.
The reports adds that no deal has been struck. An unnamed ‘source’ says the player wants to join Arsenal, and Arsenal are interested. But another source says Kokorin’s more likely to play for West Ham or Swansea City.
Rumours abound that Arsenal are making moves for Everton’s John Stones. TheSunday People adds a layer to the story by claiming Everton manager Roberto Martinez is keen on replacing Stones with Arsenal defender Calum Chambers.
The paper’s Tom Hopkinson writes:
Chambers has featured in less than half of the fixtures the Gunners have played this season, with Hector Bellerin keeping him out at right-back and Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny and Gabriel Paulista all ahead of him in the centre.
Chambers as a right back was something Arsenal were forced into last season when injuries bit. He was less than brilliant, getting skinned alive by Swansea’s Jefferson Montero as Arsenal lost to Swansea City.
As a centre-half, Chambers has promise, but it’s in central midfield where his future at Arsenal lies. Indeed, in August 2014, the Express opined:
Ultimately, the Arsenal manager sees Calum Chambers more as a holding midfielder. For now, he is making a remarkably mature fist of being a centre-back.
Chambers has the potential to be a terrific and versatile player. Stones is the player all the top clubs covert. The Metro says Manchester United are readying a £50m offer for him. Would Arsenal compete with that? And Wenger’s not in the habit of selling young English talent.
Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud is playing very well. Having scored a hat-trick in Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Olympiakos in the Champions League, the Frenchman is feeling confident. But the Daily Star has grim news:
Can it be that Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, is threatening his star turn, the man whose goals saved the Gunners’ blushes? Is he axing Giroud, the player who has scored 11 goals in his last 14 matches for Arsenal?
No. It’s balls.
“I think he is in the same league as [the very best],” says Wenger at his Press conference. “He plays for one of the best clubs in Europe and he scores goals. If you look at the number of games and the number of goals, you have to give him credit. I think he’s among the best strikers in Europe.
“He is not only a goalscorer, he’s a guy who puts work in for the team. If you look at his record, I believe he has special qualities that are difficult to find, but of course you want him to be efficient as well.
“Where he has improved a lot is his link play with the other players, and that’s very important in our team. He’s a guy who wants always to improve and he has a positive mentality, and a strong one. I think that’s why he has come back in a very strong way.
“We are in a job where you have to accept that in every game, you are questioned. In his job, as a centre forward, [it’s] even more. If you don’t score for three games, you’re questioned again. That’s part of the job.”
Not threat. No axe. Other than that the Star is spot on.
So how did the Star manage to create the story that Giroud is being dropped from Wenger praising the player’s form and talent? From this?
“He had a breather and came in and out,” Wenger continues. “I think I will have to do that again because it is so demanding now and he has a game that demands a lot of energy. Sometimes you need a breather in that squad.”
But what Klopp actually said was that Liverpool cold buy a player. Maybe.
“It’s much more important to work with people and if you trust them they have to feel it – and not just for two days but for a longer time…
“If we need something we will do it, not talk about it before. In this moment I don’t think about it. No one should be in doubt that we are prepared for any situation. We have 24 hours always at work.
“We always watch players on video but if we take them in winter, in summer or never I don’t know at this moment.”
In short: if we buy anyone, we won’t be advertising the fact in the media.
Manchester United manager Louis Van Gaal has news for the club’s fans: your team isn’t as good as it was when it was winning things season on season.
Man United no longer dominate the Barclays Premier League and target top European honours as they did under Sir Alex Ferguson. Van Gaal says anyone looking at the past and expecting a repeat is in dream land.
He told the Press:
“I am working very hard and my players are working very hard to do everything we can. The problem is that we have to meet with expectations and the expectations at Manchester United are very high. That is our problem. You can see there were a lot of positive things [during the Champions League defeat by Wolfsburg], but if you don’t want to see that, that’s not my problem. I work hard, my players work hard and now we are in the Europa League and we have to work hard to win that. That is not easy, but nobody hears that.
“They don’t want to hear me. They say a club like Manchester United has to win. That’s the past. You have to analyse the club now. [You cannot] compare it with ten years ago, because there has been an evolution in football, European football. It is not as easy as everybody thinks. Now we have many more clubs [in England and in Europe] who have money, and the structure to win things. Next year, all the clubs in the Premier League have a bigger budget than most of the clubs in Europe. That makes a big difference. Every club can buy a player: the difference [in the transfer market] is not so big.
“You think Manchester United has a lot of money, that is true, but the difference [with others] is not so big any more. The confirmation is every week. The bottom clubs can beat the top teams. There is no other league that this happens as often as it does in the Premier League. That makes it very difficult for a Premier League club to match [teams] from other leagues in the Champions League.”
Adding:
“We shall do everything to win something, but it is very difficult. It is not only difficult for Manchester United. It is also difficult for Manchester City and Liverpool, Arsenal or Chelsea or Leicester.”
Leicester City did not spend more than £250 million on players, as United have done since Van Gaal took over at Old Trafford. Money matter – but it can’t be the only reason teams win.
Oliver Kay tells Times readers:
Does Van Gaal really want to play the money game? OK, Louis, you asked for this. For the year ending June 2015, Manchester United’s turnover was £395.2 million. The corresponding figure for this season has been forecast to break £500 million and, if it falls slightly short, it will only be because their slice of Champions League revenue has dropped as a result of their elimination at the group stage…
By contrast, PSV Eindhoven, who took four points from them in that Champions League group, generated £45 million in revenue in 2013-14 and if their accounts have been swollen since then, it has only been through the £40 million they raised by selling their two most marketable players, Georgino Wijnaldum and Memphis Depay, to Newcastle United and Manchester United.
Which makes you wonder at United’s transfer policy. It’s not just about having more money than your opponent – thank God – it’s about what you do with it. And right now, United are investing badly.
PS: Man United play Bournemouth today in what will be the first league meeting between the two clubs. Annual turnover (2013-14) Bournemouth £10.1m v Man United £433m. Easy, then.United will win by 40 goals to 1.
In an “exclusive” the Sun says Real Madrid want to re-sign current Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho. The Real players and fans might not like Mourinho, but the Sun says the club’s president, Florentino Perez, is a big fan.
A source says the pair share a relationship that “goes way beyond the professional”. As your heads spin with images of the pair taking long walks in the rain and sharing rooms on away days, readers soon learn that no approach has been made to Mourinho. The story is based entirely on that unnamed source.
Cynics might wonder if this is more PR puffery than actual news.
And it is news we’ve heard before:
Sky Sports: “Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho could return to Real Madrid, says Ramon Calderon” – Nov, 11
Daily Mirror: “Real Madrid want Jose Mourinho BACK – and they want him to bring Eden Hazard with him” – October 30
Daily Express: “Chelsea in shock as boss Jose Mourinho set for stunning return to former club Real Madrid” – October 21
The Mirror says Arsenal have made Southampton’s Victor Wanyama their “winter window priority”. The Kenyan is Arsenal’s “Number 1 target” this January.
The Bleacher Report says the Arsenal shortlist features four players:
A club “recruitment source” reportedly informed Football Insider’s Wayne Veysey that William Carvalho of Sporting Lisbon, Lazio’s Lucas Biglia, Villarreal midfielder Bruno Soriano and Porto’s Ruben Neves are “all on the radar.”
No mention of Wanyama, there.
And no mention of him over at the Metro, where the Gunners’ main target is said to be Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann.
Daniel Sturridge is injured. The Liverpool striker is dogged by injuries. The Sun quotes Jurgen Klopp, Sturridge’s manager at Liverpool: He says: “We need to look at how we bring him into shape.”
It’s all a far cry from what the Sun declared On November 28:
The Guardian agreed:
Jürgen Klopp has told Daniel Sturridge he must start to play through the pain barrier to address the problems that have blighted the Liverpool striker’s career. The manager said Sturridge needed to learn “what is serious pain or what is only pain”.
Looks like Sturridge’s pain isn’t all in the mind, after all – and Klopp is fallible.
The plaudits are fulsome for Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud, whose hat-trick in Greece secured more Champions’ League football for his club.
The Mirror leads with ‘Our Hero’, praising the “much-criticised Frenchman.
John Cross praises the “sensational” Frenchman, before cranking up the tabloid-obot: this was a “Greek tragedy” for Olympiakos (you just know he’d have used the same cliche had Arsenal lost); Giroud exhibited “Gallic flair”, as all French players who score must.
The Sun calls Giroud a “GREEK GOD”, although which one is unsaid. We’d go for Morpheus, what with his having sent Arsenal into “dreamland”.
Charlie Wyett evokes May 1989, when Arsenal had to defeat Liverpool by two clear goals to win the title. I was there – and beating Olympiakos by a similar margin comes nowhere close to that magic night. Olympiakos are an ordinary team playing in a weak Greek top flight; Liverpool ’89 were mighty.
Back then Arsenal had Alan Smith up front. Was he better than Giroud? Did ‘Smudger’ play with Continental flair or English grit?
Wyett adds that that Arsenal “cannot win the Champions League”. But, of course, they can. You have to be in it to win it, and they are. Odd that having evoked that unlikely night in 1989, Wyett should dismiss the underdog’s chances.
In a column called ‘Five Things We Learnt”, the Sun says Giroud will “never be a world-class striker”. Readers are then told that Hector Bellerin has been “Arsenal’s stand-out player for the past 18 months” – which he hasn’t been. The Spaniard has been good, often remarkably so, but to say he’s made more of an impact that Sanchez or Ozil is absurd.
And you can add Giroud to that list of top Arsenal players.
Former Manchester United player Owen Hargreaves is now a pundit for BT Sport. Unaware that he was on air, Hargreaves provide a lively assessment of his former club’s current game plan as they took on – and lost to – Wolfsburg in last night’s Champions’ League match.
Caught off guard when studio host Gary Lineker went to Hargreaves stood on the Volkswagen Arena pitch, the player was aghast that Van Gaal had decided to leave Champions League winner Michael Carrick, on the bench.
Owen Hargreaves didn't realize he was live on TV and wasn't happy with LVG's tactics. https://t.co/4UmOftVafz
Who can be blamed for Manchester United crashing out of the Champions League in the group stages? It’s worth noting that this is an improvement on last season, when United failed to even qualify for European football’s biggest tournament.
The Mail says the buck starts and stops with United manager Louis Van Gaal, who is “hammered for his abysmal tactics”. Martin Samuel says United lost “because they could not not pick ip an old-fashioned big lad in the penalty area at set-pieces”.
As Van Gaal admits to his side going “backwards”, Chris Wheeler says United’s owners, the Glazer family, want to extend his contract beyond 2017.
No evidence that they do. But just saying it is enough to start that most wanted to tabloid aims: a heated debate.
Overall, though, the papers are split between leading with a dejected Van Gaal…
…or a his over-paid, under-talented side:
Any United fans in need to a laugh – or at best a distraction – can look to the Mirror, where David McDonnell delivers a tortuous intro:
And so it proved Emission Impossible for Manchester United as their Champions League campaign spluttered to a halt.
Wolfsburg may have been rocked by the emissions scandal that has engulfed sponsors Volkswagen, but last night it was the Reds who were left on the hard shoulder of European football.
As you wince at that, better, perhaps, to turn to the Times, where Henry Winter is in his pomp:
Embarrassing. Manchester United deservedly departed the Champions League because they defended like amateurs, not like elite professionals. They were drawn in an easier group than Manchester City yet find themselves in the Europa League. Welcome to Thursdays. Excruciating.
And Van Gaal?
Van Gaal’s reputation was damaged here. For United’s biggest game of the season, he took two eye-catching decisions. Guillermo Varela, the 22-year-old Uruguayan who made his debut against West Ham United on Saturday, started at right back; he made a couple of good tackles, but betrayed his inexperience by getting dragged into the centre, gifting André Schürrle space outside.
More controversial was Van Gaal’s decision to field Marouane Fellaini alongside Bastian Schweinsteiger with Michael Carrick kicking his heels on the bench and having to wait until 20 minutes from time for his 70th Champions League appearance. Fellaini lost the ball twice in the opening five minutes and did little to stop Wolfsburg’s counterattacks.
Which can all be summed by two words from the Sun: “Van Damned.”
Transfer balls: The Daily Telegraph says Manchester Untied are ready to splurge £143,9m on Neymar.
So incredible is the story that Neymar appears to point to it, laughing:
The paper reports:
It would be a staggering and eye-watering deal if Manchester United could pull it off but the likelihood of Neymar joining Old Trafford remains extremely slim.
How slim is slim?
Even though the Barcelona forward insists he’s happy at the Nou Camp and doesn’t see his future anywhere else, that does not seem to stop reports surfacing that United will up the ante in an attempt to persuade the seemingly unpersuadable.
Is “reports surfacing” code for ‘reports being made-up’?
Today reports are doing the rounds that United are preparing a quite preposterous £143.9 million offer to sign the Brazilian next month.
…But for all the money United appear willing to splash out in an attempt to land Neymar, the player is not for budging. Barca, however, may be willing to sell – in order to balance the books.
The Tele doesn’t bother to link to the source of its story.
The Star says the story emerges from Old Trafford.
The Star gives its source as The Metro:
The Metro says the story is rooted in Spain.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale have been linked, but Fichajes says United are preparing a £143.9m move for Neymar.
Over there, we’re told nothing of that nutzoid fee being quoted across the UK Press. But we do learn that United have €200m so invest and “the Brazilian international will not hear talk of the Red Devils…. Neymar currently wants to establish itself as the absolute star of the Spanish league and follow in the footsteps of Lionel Messi as Barca”.
Pep Guardiola has moved “one step closer” to Manchester City says the Mirror. The paper leads with news that Pep Guardiola is “poised to join his old Barcelona mates and quit Bayern Munich for Manchester millions”.
In today’s tabloid football round-up, we look first at the Sun, which leads with news of “Revolt” at Manchester United and “Blue Murder” at Chelsea.
