7 h. ago Manchester United’s collapse leaves the FA Cup nearly free of superclubs

Exiting the FA Cup on penalties at home to Fulham is a new low in a season full of them for Ruben Amorim’s sideSign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson hereWhat links Jack Robson, Lal Hilditch, Herbert Bamlett and Ruben Amorim?They’re the only permanent managers in Manchester United history with a career negative goal-difference. Other than Amorim, the other three worked between 1914 and 1931. Sunday’s FA Cup exit against Fulham, admittedly, did not contribute to that. It was possible, even, in the aftermath of a penalty shootout defeat, to argue it had been one of United’s better recent performances. They’ve only lost two of their previous eight games. But it’s also just 3 March and United already have no chance of winning any domestic competition this season. Continue reading...

Politics

7 h. ago Manchester United’s collapse leaves the FA Cup nearly free of superclubs | Jonathan Wilson

Exiting the FA Cup on penalties at home to Fulham is a new low in a season full of them for Ruben Amorim’s sideSign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson hereWhat links Jack Robson, Lal Hilditch, Herbert Bamlett and Ruben Amorim?They’re the only permanent managers in Manchester United history with a career negative goal-difference. Other than Amorim, the other three worked between 1914 and 1931. Sunday’s FA Cup exit against Fulham, admittedly, did not contribute to that. It was possible, even, in the aftermath of a penalty shootout defeat, to argue it had been one of United’s better recent performances. They’ve only lost two of their previous eight games. But it’s also just 3 March and United already have no chance of winning any domestic competition this season. Continue reading...

Politics

50 h. ago All played out: Raheem Sterling in startling decline after hitting the fateful 500 mark | Jonathan Wilson

The Arsenal forward, once England’s key player, is only 30 but his confidence is shot and his career on a downward curveIn Rafa Benítez’s first season in English football, he rested Steven Gerrard for an FA Cup tie at Burnley, who were in the Championship. When Liverpool lost, there was a predictable backlash and, from certain quarters, derision as Benítez explained his rotation policy and the need to manage the number of minutes each player played.Social media being in its infancy, it wasn’t quite the culture war that it would have become today, but certain old-school football men clearly felt that players should just get on with it: hard work never hurt anyone. But at the same time a piece of ancient wisdom kept surfacing, usually from elderly coaches who had spent a lifetime in the game: as a rule of thumb, however much they play, whatever age they start, a player has 500 games in them. Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago Roy Keane has short memory after issuing Liverpool with 'laughing stock' warning

Roy Keane claims Liverpool will want to avoid becoming a "laughing stock" by blowing their 11-point lead this season, though his own Manchester United team once suffered an even greater collapse

Events

7 d. ago A sense of acquiescence has pervaded Arsenal’s stuttering title challenge | Jonathan Wilson

Mikel Arteta’s team have suffered unfortunate injuries but they also have far less self-belief than a Liverpool side who look destined to win the Premier LeagueSign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson hereAnd with that, surely, the title race is over. Liverpool had drawn four of their previous eight games which had created an opening. Had Arsenal beaten West Ham and Liverpool lost at Manchester City this weekend, the title would have been in Arsenal’s hands, at least to the extent that they would have won it if they had won every game they had remaining this season, including away at Liverpool. But, after Arsenal limped to a 1-0 defeat, Liverpool produced their best performance in weeks to win 2-0. The gap is 11 points and, even though Arsenal have a game in hand, it’s very hard to imagine either Liverpool dropping sufficient points or Arsenal winning enough for that to be overturned.Arteta described himself as “very, very angry” after his side’s defeat, admitting they were “nowhere ...

Sport

9 d. ago Liverpool and Manchester City renew rivalry in a much more vulnerable era | Jonathan Wilson

Sunday’s clash between declining champions and their likely successors is a far cry from recent title battlesThere has been something pleasingly old-fashioned about the Premier League title race this season. It may be a modern phenomenon that the side top of the table have lost only one of 26 games, and that the side in second have lost two, but after the years of champions habitually racking up 90 points and more, the general fallibility has been refreshing.Liverpool are still on course for 89 points but they are not implacable, remorseless winners in the way Manchester City so often were. They reached a peak in their 2-0 home win over Real Madrid at the end of November and, although they were comfortable winners over City the following Sunday, there has been a sense since of a side, if not quite clinging on to the mountain top, then at the very least not striding quite so confidently along the ridge. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Ruben Amorim's Manchester United dream on the brink of collapse after Ineos ultimatum

The Manchester United boss is finding out the cruel nature of the Premier League the hard way

Politics

2 w. ago Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United are a mess, with issues starting at the top | Jonathan Wilson

The optimism that greeted Jim Ratcliffe’s arrival as owner has given way to even more disappointment, with Sunday’s defeat at Tottenham the latest exampleSign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson hereCovering Manchester United these days feels a little like being a character in Silent Witness: every week you end up writing a postmortem. Their Sunday defeat at Tottenham was an engaging if bitty affair that finished 1-0 largely because the low quality of defending on show was compensated for by the low level of attacking. It was fun in its way, but it didn’t feel a lot like Premier League football.It also meant United dropped to 15th in the table, having won just four of 14 league games under Ruben Amorim. Under Erik ten Hag this season, United were taking 1.22 points per game; under Amorim that’s down to 1.00. Nobody was under any illusions about the scale of the task he was taking on, but four months after Amorim took the job it would be very difficult to identify any concrete signs o...

Politics