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At this time of the year, it can feel as if the football programme is packed with rehearsals while the true drama lies weeks or months ahead.
There are players at both Manchester City and United with much to offer but that does not disguise a broader truth — a place among the elite.
Torres and Carroll lend credence to the belief that January buys aren’t good business.
The English Premier League is a local affair once more.
United, after all, had been in reasonably good form and the talk following matches with lesser teams was often of regeneration.
As if it was not enough to win the Premier League title once again Manchester United insisted on staying ahead of the pack even in the closed season.
Pep Guardiola is one of the very few people in football who does not find his Barcelona side irresistible.
A Manchester United without Sir Alex Ferguson in charge feels as much an absurdity as, in the end, an inevitability.
Chelsea are deserved champions four years after they last lifted the English Premier League trophy.
As if they were not busy enough striving for trophies, the top four in the English Premier League have to deliver major stories as well.
Goals give a player authority. With his commanding drive that delivered a 1-0 win over Barcelona at Stamford Bridge, Didier Drogba played like a leader of the Chelsea team and…
The advent of micro-countries introduced a new terror to international football. You could beat them and still be humiliated. Fifteen years ago Scotland won 2-0 in San Marino,…
Should Germany be anything like as bad in this World Cup as they were in Euro 2004, fans who currently protest about his base in California will rant that Jürgen Klinsmann…
Much as Frank Rijkaard and Arsene Wenger will talk of their keen anticipation of the showpiece to come at the Stade de France, the fact is that Barcelona and Arsenal were the…
Managers dream of honours, but they are almost all fighting a losing battle for survival. Time is shorter than ever and they now last only 1,7 years on average in their posts.…
”The transfer market exists to teach managers humility. Even Jose Mourinho should feel chastened from time to time. Despite his public pronouncements, in his private moments, he…
Whatever else happens in Glasgow, Gordon Strachan has already shaken the critics. Those who doubted whether his heart was really in management must be silent now. Other members…
The tail is wagging a howling dog. All the enraged energy in the Premiership’s closing weeks comes from the swishing and flailing of the clubs in the relegation zone. Norwich,…
The Stade de France is a place of marvels. Last Saturday, the crowd was amazed by the inability of Raymond Domenech’s side to score in the drawn World Cup qualifier with…
Liverpool’s Champions League quarterfinal with Juventus will take place in the midst of football’s blackest memories. There will be renewed grief and perhaps suppressed guilt…
