On the same night England underwhelmed against Japan in a friendly, the four European spots at the 2026 World Cup were decided via the play-offs. Italy have bottled their third World Cup finals in a row, Turkey got past Kosovo and will inevitably be your casual football fan friend’s dark horses to go far this … Read more
There are between five and 10 spaces up for grabs in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad, and Friday’s friendly against Marcelo Bielsa’s Uruguay provided the perfect opportunity for those on the periphery. You’d be bold to identify anyone who grabbed their chance with both hands after England’s stale 1-1 draw at Wembley. The biggest takeaway from … Read more
What if Chelsea, Liverpool and Aston Villa all miss out on Champions League qualification? It’s an absurd thought, yet one that now appears distinctly possible following Chelsea’s abject 3-0 capitulation at Everton. Liverpool have taken one point from their last three games, against bottom of the actual table Wolves, bottom of the form table Tottenham, … Read more
After Chelsea counted the cost of Liam Rosenior’s tactical “obsession” on Wednesday as Paris Saint-Germain tore through them at the Paris des Princes in the last 20 minutes, Eddie Howe and Newcastle relied on the same fixation at Stamford Bridge to strike a crushing blow in the Blues’ bid for Champions League qualification. “He can … Read more
If Max Dowman was ‘impossible to resist’ for Thomas Tuchel before, it is difficult to fathom quite how Arsenal should be expected to keep themselves from handing the 16-year-old a lifetime contract on the wave of a euphoric victory over Everton. Hours after previous opponents Mansfield battled to a home draw with Barnsley thanks to … Read more
Nottingham Forest find themselves in the tricky predicament of juggling a Premier League relegation battle with a Europa League run. Their fourth permanent manager of the season, Vitor Pereira, insisted before Forest‘s Europa League round of 16 first leg against FC Midtjylland that he is keen for them to be “competitive in both” competitions, but … Read more
It was Jurgen Klopp who foresaw football’s shift towards defensive solidity back in 2018. Possibly wishing for his head to reside somewhere other than his hands, Klopp brought in Alisson and Virgil van Dijk to rectify Liverpool’s frequent lapses at the back. With hindsight, he had spotted an opportunity. Football in the mid-2010s frequently resembled … Read more
It might not mean much or indeed anything at all when the post-mortems on Spurs’ season come to be written, but his first interview as Spurs boss did at least bring one slice of comfort to the fans: he gets it. Igor Tudor understands the assignment. It doesn’t mean he will or even can complete … Read more
“In a World Cup year, Pep will have given him the full sales pitch saying, ‘you are coming in and the number one jersey is yours. You will be playing regularly, challenging for the Premier League and playing Champions League football and if you play your cards right, you might be playing for England in … Read more
It’s not been a great week for Quad Gods but Arsenal safely avoided any costly fall as they ticked off one of the more routine but necessary steps towards history. Wigan were swept aside by Arsenal’s history-chasers, who show no sign of succumbing to the February curse in the month when so, so many would-be … Read more