The experience of the football fan has changed immeasurably as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. With fans not allowed into stadiums, watching a game has this inescapable surrealist quality to it. Whether you listen to bizarre artificial crowd noise, or the eerie silence of what feels like a training game, it is hard to
England failed to qualify for the Nations League Finals after losing 2 – 0 to number one ranked side Belgium. Leicester midfielder Youri Tielemans opened the scoring in the 10th minute. His drive from outside the box took a deflection on route to beat Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. Belgium dominated the early stages and their
Liverpool and England defender Joe Gomez awaits a scan on a knee injury which is thought to be serious. Joe Gomez sustained the injury while training with the England national team on Wednesday. The fear is that he has torn his ACL and if he has, he will miss the remainder of the season. It’s
Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny is looking towards the future ahead of the upcoming Nations League fixtures. Before Ireland plays against Wales and Bulgaria in the Nations League, they face England in a friendly on Thursday. The traditional rivalry has some extra spice this time, as England have two former Ireland youth players in
Manchester United’s 2 – 1 loss to Istanbul Basaksehir on Wednesday night illustrated Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s ceiling as manager. A listless performance in Turkey, defined by a Demba Ba opening goal which a team like United should never concede. The striker was allowed to run from within his own half to put Istanbul Basaksehir 1
Midfielder Mohammed Elneny was instrumental in Arsenal’s first win at Old Trafford in 15 years, a solid 1 – 0 victory. It’s about as unexpected as it gets for a player whose Gunners career appeared to be over. When Mikel Arteta took over, he said that every player had a clean slate. He even brought
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer marked his 100th game as Manchester United boss in Sunday’s narrow defeat to Arsenal at Old Trafford. If he makes it to 200 games, it is likely he will still face questions and criticism over his role. It’s his cross to bear. He is a former legend of the club who lacks
For the first time in his tenure as Arsenal manager, rookie coach Mikel Arteta is coming under scrutiny from fans. The reason? Arsenal aren’t scoring enough goals. Three successive Premier League defeats to Liverpool, Manchester City and Leicester have seen Arsenal fail to ‘go for it’ in an attacking sense. In fairness, they are three
Jurgen Klopp is biting his tongue over the possibility of his Liverpool team not being allowed to play at Anfield. The Premier League is due to return behind closed doors on June 17th following the Covid-19 pandemic. The league has agreed on most safety procedures, apart from the issue of Liverpool playing at home. Liverpool,
At this point, it’s clear that the restart of the Premier League is motivated by money and not sporting integrity. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. There isn’t a fan in the world who wouldn’t kill to watch their team play at the moment. However, questions must be asked about what kind of Premier League
