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Joined April 2017
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Remember Cantona at Old Trafford and Klinsmann at White Hart Lane, Jonah at the Olympic Stadium, Hadlee at the Gabba, Graham Lowe's Kiwis in '83, and Alan Hewson's salute in '81.
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Roosters versus Storm on Friday night was a classic on so many levels and crystallised the absolute fact that these two teams, more than…
Sir Alex Ferguson famously said he took on the challenge of managing Manchester United "knock Liverpool right off their f***ing perch. And you can…
The fortunes of your favourite sides in the English Premier League or any of the major European leagues these days unfortunately but necessarily revolve…
Two articles headlined the BBC football website 'gossip' column this morning. Like so many others I watch this feed intently, hoping beyond hope that…
Last year the Penrith Panthers couldn't win beautifully. Now they're winning ugly. I know which one I'd rather as a long-suffering Panther's fan. The…
Manchester United edged their match against Brighton last night, an unlucky deflection taking the ball past the excellent Mat Ryan and proving the decider.…
Sam Whitelock has been named to captain the All Blacks for today's test against Wales. It will be his 95th test and his first…
Michael Cheika is an emotive coach at the best of times, so the weekend's loss to England was going to draw a response worthy of…
Monaco played their best game of the Champions League qualifying stage overnight, very much deserving the 1-1 draw they gained against group leading Turkish…
We saw a great finals series match again on Saturday, with Melbourne pushed so hard by a Parramatta team that refused to be intimidated.…
Form lines are hard to read in the NRL. The evenness of the entire competition leads to successive weekends like those Eels fans have…
I'm not much of stats guru – who has the greatest number of hat-tricks or goals in consecutive appearances is beyond me. But what…
Tautau Moga is a great footballer and athlete. Watching him as part of the wrecking ball that was the Broncos backline as it tore…
It is fantastic from a neutral point of view to see Brighton and Hove Albion securing the first automatic spot for promotion to the…
Arsene Wenger has publicly asked his English players to take control of Arsenal's future, short and long term. But the longstanding coach has never managed…
I came to Australia in 1996. By the time Rod MacQueen had led the Wallabies to a second World Cup I was almost ready…
A one-all draw overnight away to Anderlecht leaves Manchester United with work to do in the return leg of their Europa League quarter-final at…
Statistically, Sunderland can stay up in the Premier League this year. That's why statisticians work in finance and insurance, anyone with a passing appreciation…
Wayne Bennett made a comment to the media during the week, the sort that gets relegated behind the salaciousness of Panthers players being suspended…
I became a Manchester United fan in the early hours of a May Sunday morning, glued to black-and-white images of Alan Sunderland sinking dreams…
It’s amazing how quickly Renouf’s name still comes up when you mention centres in league. Other positions have modern day equivalents that can be compared to past greats, but centre seems to have been forgotten.
Centre is a specialist role and should be treated as such
i really thought souths had turned a corner last week with a loss to Brisbane they barely deserved, this is the type of beating that makes you wonder about their player’s attitude
South Sydney Rabbitohs vs Manly Sea Eagles: NRL live scores, blog
I think Wenger is a genius, to have done what he has , as you say not at one of the super rich teams, is amazing.
The only point I was making was that everyone has a weak point or two and perhaps not fully understanding the English psyche was one of his.
Maybe that is what was missing in his back room staff, he needed someone who could read all the young English talent they saw in the way Wenger obviously understood French talent.
Wenger's pursuit of English talent lost in translation
I reckon the recipe for success is not to buy into the misplaced belief that everything Crusader is gold.
Todd Blackadder is a really nice bloke, the Crusaders went so far backwards under him.
Daryl Gibson is a really nice bloke…..
Robbie Deans achieved something down there, but I’m not sure any of the players he had knew the secret recipe.
It isn’t like the players who have emulated Sir Alex Ferguson for Man United, they obviously were in on whatever it was he had distilled as the secret to ongoing success. Roy Keane, Steve Bruce, Mark Hughes….
Buy Australian made….
Who should coach the woeful Waratahs?
I saw a pic of John Terry with all the trophies he won with Chelsea, I think the context was that he has won more than all the current squad of Arsenal, which doesn’t surprise.
The one that was relegated to the outside left position was the Europa trophy, the Champions League trophy sitting proudly in the middle of the Premier League and FA cup ones.
No one remembers a Europa League other than in the context of ‘weren’t you involved in the Champion’s League that year”?
Mourinho knows all about football, he wants to finish ahead of City and Liverpool.
Is winning the Europa League an easier way to secure Champions League football?
Josh Maguire playing like he has is another example of Bennett’s genius, no one would have relished replacing Corey Parker, and not many coaches could have convinced a front rower that they could.
Milf's magnificence merely man management
Zlatan is gone, maybe for good. So all focus necessarily turns to a replacement who will get the goals that will take United to a title.
Rojo is gone too. For this season. Jose is quoted as saying Jones, Smalling etc have to take some pain and come back earlier than perhaps they were going to.
I don’t think I am the only United fan who thinks, who cares whether they do or don;t, I’ve never really thought they are worthy of being there anyway.
It is a great shame about Zlatan and may well cost United a Europa League. I hope the bigger pity of it isn’t that searching for a replacement takes precedence over the search for defenders who should be playing for the Red Devils.
Boring Mourinho needs a tougher defence
thanks Baz,
looking at the Waratahs the only thing I can think of is Israel Folau in a Rooster’s jumper, and the equivalent of a new Israel, if he ever came along, not seeing the Waratahs, or whichever of the franchises still exists by then, as a viable option for his unfolding career.
Size does matter for Super Rugby
Thanks Carlos, a bit of a mish mash , the over arching point was that the global reach of union keeps the game relevant here against so much competition. If we begin to shrink the number of Australian teams in the comp we might get some short term competitiveness, but it will be jaguare like in Thatcher teams will be largely the current wallabies spread across 2 or 3 teams, and they will be closed shops. Young men will go elsewhere . And we will never expand back to what we have now. Australia will always have great union talent coming through, but that needs to continue to grow in size and contracting the number of super rugby teams isn’t going to do that.
Size does matter for Super Rugby
You’re right that there is a difference between United and the others in terms of what is acceptable to the faithful.
It just seems so long since a club that doesn’t mind breaking the bank did so for a ‘Beckenbauer’, as you said it was strange to keep watching a team where the defence seemed to be an afterthought, players who shouldn’t be there, players out of position.
I still cringe a little at the team sheet when Chelsea keep finding an Alonso, City found Zabaleta, Kompany etc.
Boring Mourinho needs a tougher defence
I saw Peter Schmiechel’s five-a-side dream team during the week. He had Cantona, Giggs and Scholes, and as you point out United are again playing the type of attacking football those guys loved. The first name on his list though was Jaap Stam, and the footage they had reminded me what is really still missing from this team, the great defender who turns and runs or distributes and then all those great attacking midfielders cause havoc.
i used the term ‘boring Mourinho’ because of the Arsenal teams who were the epitome of shutting games down. Yes United have beaten Chelsea and Spurs, the teams that will finish well ahead of them this year, but it is the other results that have let Mourinho down.
he can only work slow miracles, i just worry that United might miss Champions League football again and that will make it an even slower process.
Boring Mourinho needs a tougher defence
everyone rates Mourinho, just not all the stock that he inherited
Boring Mourinho needs a tougher defence
i think Waqa Blake is single handedly setting out to prove you right in the Panthers game against the Sharks
Catching the footy? Massively underrated
Good points. But I think the fact that the ball is not in United’s third a great deal shows we give up goals easily. And players such as Smalling and Jones aren’t that young, I think they are becoming the next Jonny Evans , players who promised a lot but eventually don’t really deliver.
Boring Mourinho needs a tougher defence
that’s true, and money talks, and they might find another Ferdinand at that early stage of the defender’s career.
But the older players who have matured into being a great defender may not follow the money so much, they need to know they stand a chance of having the real winners medals when they hang up their boots in a few years
Boring Mourinho needs a tougher defence
great point, he was the solskjaer, danny wellbeck was going to be pretty handy too
Boring Mourinho needs a tougher defence
That”s very true and a true goal poacher would have made their season different. But while the statistics look good I think United get found out by strong teams, the premier league is made up of the elite and the rest, United would be eaten alive by barca or bayern.
Boring Mourinho needs a tougher defence
Great article. I think it shows how right you are when the old masters such as Peter Sterling and Wally Lewis are almost lost for words sometimes during the commentary. If they had seen their outside backs dropping ball the way Sean Kenny Dowell and so many others do I think they would have been straight in the coaches ear on Monday morning.
Catching the footy? Massively underrated
Great to see this test sparking debate again, last year was a foregone conclusion. This kiwi team will have a great forward pack regardless, so Sean Johnson is on the front foot and suddenly those outside backs are so much more dangerous. Can’t wait.
There's an upset brewing in the upcoming Anzac Test
who? no de gea and perhaps a Europa spot, you aren’t going to get the creme de la creme
Boring Mourinho needs a tougher defence
Thanks jb, he can only do so much though I suppose, players of the quality of Hummels demand champions league football. This United team will have to win the Europa league for that to happen, and there are some good teams left if they get past anderlecht,
Boring Mourinho needs a tougher defence
thanks Ray, i think you should have written the article’s Sunderland content, I really just don’t want to see clubs such as this dwindle away as you put it, we are already heading so quickly into the realm of super clubs and also rans, despite Leicester last year.
I like David Moyes, I think he was out of his depth, lacked support and became a dead man walking at United. Unfortunately that took the focus away from what he is good at, managing mid sized clubs to over achievement. In the same way many players are not built to be at a United, but can be sensational at smaller clubs, Emile Heskey always springs to mind for me, tearing it up at Leicester.
I hope that Sunderland come straight back up, in the same way I would love to see Wolves up there. Unfortunately 20 is a tiny number.
Moyes will be the Black Cats' saviour
Exactly Buddy, when you look at that Championship table there are so many clubs with great histories, Forest, Ipswich, Huddersfield, Wolves… and so many who slipped out of the Premiership recently and really believed it would only be a season or two before they made their way back. I hope Sunderland doesn’t become another perennial Championship battler. Moyes shouldn’t be blamed for this year, and he is perfect, I think, to bring them back up quickly.
Moyes will be the Black Cats' saviour
I think you could go back through Bennett’s coaching career and find any number of similar events where he had found a way of reminding a player what he capable is of sounds simple but isn’t.
Milf's magnificence merely man management
That’s very true and I think shows that too much emphasis had been placed on size, and why players who are really second rowers are often placed out there.
Centre is a specialist role and should be treated as such