Will Unwin

Pep Guardiola condemns fans who booed as Muslim players broke Ramadan fast at Leeds * Section of fans reacted as play paused at Elland Road * Guardiola: ‘Respect the religion, respect the diversity’ * Leeds coach calls it ‘disappointing … we need to do better’ Pep Guardiola has called on football supporters to “respect religion and diversity” after fans booed a brief stoppage in play at Elland Road to allow Muslim players to break their Ramadan fast. Play was halted in the 13th minute of Manchester City’s 1-0 win against Leeds after the sun had set to allow the Muslim players to eat. At this point, despite a clear message on the big screen, fans audibly jeered the situation. Continue reading...

Pep Guardiola condemns fans who booed as Muslim players broke Ramadan fast at Leeds

Manchester City close gap to two points at top after Semenyo sinks Leeds For those wondering if Manchester City are over reliant on Erling Haaland, they offered a riposte at Leeds. It was neither a fluid nor entertaining victory but, importantly, it closed the gap at the top to two points, increasing the pressure on Arsenal in the process. It helps that when the league’s top scorer is absent, City can rely on the third man in the charts. Antoine Semenyo scored his 14th of the season on a difficult night for Pep Guardiola’s side, making the full-time euphoria well deserved after what felt like a significant win. Continue reading...

Manchester City close gap to two points at top after Semenyo sinks Leeds

Tammy Abraham salvages late point for Aston Villa to deny battling Leeds It felt like the day Aston Villa’s faint title hopes were extinguished despite Tammy Abraham’s late equaliser. Anton Stach’s incredible free-kick looked set to secure the win for Leeds until the 88th minute but it felt like another important point in their fight for survival. Unai Emery’s side have only won once in their past four Premier League home games and fell short once more to leave them seven points behind leaders Arsenal. They were punished for a sloppy opening 45 minutes when they failed to get almost anything right against their more aggressive opponents. Continue reading...

Tammy Abraham salvages late point for Aston Villa to deny battling Leeds

How six Britons could play in one game in Slovakia’s ‘fast track’ top flight Former Manchester United, Spurs, Everton and Arsenal players are preparing for AS Trencin’s clash with Zemplin Michalovce on Saturday

People say I’ve gone too mainstream. This is what I say to them:

www.theguardian.com/football/202...

How six Britons could play in one game in Slovakia’s ‘fast track’ top flight Former Manchester United, Spurs, Everton and Arsenal players are preparing for AS Trencin’s clash with Zemplin Michalovce on Saturday

People say I’ve gone too mainstream. This is what I say to them:

www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Arteta accepts Arsenal ‘have to blame ourselves’ after blowing lead at Wolves * League leaders squander 2-0 lead at bottom side * Arteta: ‘We didn’t perform at the level required’ Mikel Arteta admitted Arsenal “have to blame ourselves” after they surrendered a two-goal lead to draw at Wolves. A 94th-minute equaliser cost the Premier League leaders two points as they allowed their rock-bottom opponents back into the game, further calling into question their title credentials. Arsenal are five points clear of Manchester City but have played a game more. The Gunners looked on their way to victory after goals from Bukayo Saka and Piero Hincapié, only to be pegged back by Hugo Bueno and Tom Edozie. Continue reading...

Arteta accepts Arsenal ‘have to blame ourselves’ after blowing lead at Wolves

Alexander Isak should return from injury for Liverpool in April, says Slot * £125m summer signing broke a leg in December * He should rejoin team training late March or early April Arne Slot is expecting Alexander Isak to be available for a Liverpool return in April. The striker fractured his left leg and sustained an ankle injury against Tottenham in December and required surgery but is back in light training. Isak started running this week as part of his rehabilitation and if he continues on the same path, he will join team training at the end of March. “It will be around that period of time – end of March, start of April – where he is hopefully back with the group,” the head coach said. Continue reading...

Alexander Isak should return from injury for Liverpool in April, says Slot

Arsenal suffer new blow in title race after late equaliser boosts Wolves If you want to have an impact on your Premier League debut, then denting the title hopes of currently the best team in the land is not a bad way of doing it. Tom Edozie came off the bench to hammer in an injury-time shot which Riccardo Calafiori forced into his own net for the Wolves equaliser to punish Arsenal on a regrettable night. Bukayo Saka and Piero Hincapié thought they had earned the victory for Arsenal against the league’s worst team, only for Hugo Bueno to reduce the deficit with a stunning strike, before Edozie made a name for himself with the help of the Arsenal defender. Continue reading...

Arsenal suffer new blow in title race after late equaliser boosts Wolves

Burnley turfed out of FA Cup on perfect day for Louis Reed and Mansfield Mansfield gave blood and sweat to reach the FA Cup fifth round by shocking a Burnley side intent on boring everyone to tears. A stunning Louis Reed free-kick completed a hard-fought turnaround for the League One side against their labouring Premier League opponents. There is little doubt that Burnley are getting relegated, leaving the Cup as their only hope of salvaging a desperate season, but they lacked quality from start to finish on another desperate day for Scott Parker. Mansfield were not necessarily the better side but worked harder for the victory. Continue reading...

Burnley turfed out of FA Cup on perfect day for Louis Reed and Mansfield

‘He would fill you with confidence’: how Liam Rosenior made his mark at Hull Chelsea manager, back at the MKM Stadium in the FA Cup on Friday, made a strong impression on Humberside, as former colleagues explain

Spoke to James Chester and Cyrus Christie about Liam Rosenior and Hull

www.theguardian.com/football/202...

⚽ Football Weekly ⚽

👏 Manchester City stroll to three points against Fulham.

😱 Burnley complete a remarkable comeback win at Crystal Palace.

😩 Nottingham Forest sack Sean Dyche.

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Good luck Vítor Pereira: Forest job is now most precarious in Premier League | Will Unwin Evangelos Marinakis is close to appointing fourth head coach of season after Sean Dyche’s sacking and it’s a mess of his own making because he should never have fired Nuno Sacking three head coaches in a season does not reflect well on Nottingham Forest or their owner, Evangelos Marinakis. It is a mess of their own making, which started with the exit of their most successful manager in recent history and has the latest P45 going to the man brought in to sort out the problems created by an ill-judged appointment that lasted eight winless games. Twelve months ago Forest were battling for a Champions League spot under the stable stewardship of Nuno Espírito Santo. A lot has changed and they will become the first Premier League side to have four permanent managers in a season, which was not a record Forest were aiming for in August, when they were hoping to build on a seventh-place finish, an FA Cup semi-final and qualifying for Europe for the first time in 30 years. Continue reading...

Good luck Vítor Pereira: Forest job is now most precarious in Premier League | Will Unwin

Nottingham Forest target Vítor Pereira after late-night sacking of Sean Dyche * Strugglers seek fourth manager of the season * Home stalemate with Wolves prompts latest firing Nottingham Forest are keen to appoint Vítor Pereira as their fourth head coach of the season after sacking Sean Dyche in the early hours of Thursday. The former Wolves manager worked under Forest’s owner, Evangelos Marinakis, at Olympiakos and would be open to taking the role. Forest have acted fast to find a replacement for Dyche, who lasted 114 days in the role after the disastrous spell of Ange Postecoglou. Dyche only lost one of his final six Premier League games but had a strained relationship with the squad and bore the brunt of the fans’ displeasure during the goalless draw with Wolves on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Nottingham Forest target Vítor Pereira after late-night sacking of Sean Dyche

Any questions for the panel?

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👇👏

More palatable than the Thomas Frank stuff

No one ever wants to be mates with a bloke who says ‘the rules are the rules’

‘We lived a miraculous thing’: Castel di Sangro, 30 years on from their epic rise The smalltown club’s Serie B adventure captivated football and inspired a famous book. That team’s spirit remains and is being passed to their successors

Can miracles happen twice? A visit to Castel di Sangro, 30 years since the achievement made globally famous by Joe McGinniss. Everything has changed but, meeting some of the book's old characters, it's as if nothing has at all. www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Manchester City produce little big plan to bamboozle Newcastle | Will Unwin Pep Guardiola replaced Haaland by using Egyptian and Semenyo in a way that had the visitors chasing shadows Pep Guardiola has been required to find solutions for a plethora of things at Manchester City. Some attribute a reinvention of the English game to him, making lumbering centre‑backs redundant in the process. One matter over the years has caused Guardiola to flounder, but against Newcastle an experiment showed promise. Finding a replacement for Erling Haaland has proved almost impossible. It is understandable, the Norwegian is a freak of nature masquerading as a footballer. A plunderous record of 151 goals in 181 appearances for the Nordic robot makes the task of understudying an unenviable one, and no matter how many tomahawk steaks or glasses of raw milk are consumed, they will never be Haaland. Continue reading...

Manchester City produce little big plan to bamboozle Newcastle | Will Unwin

SCOTTISH TRANSFER NEWS: Tom McIntyre is joining Aberdeen after having his Portsmouth contract terminated by mutual consent

CHAMPIONSHIP TRANSFER NEWS: Dapo Afolayan is joining Blackburn from St Pauli on a permanent deal.

Or the Second Incoming. We can workshop

CHAMPIONSHIP TRANSFER NEWS: Christ Makosso is set to join Oxford from
Luton after a deal was agreed. Medical today

Thierno Barry ‘dreams big’ after finding goalscoring touch at Everton Striker strives for long stay in the Premier League, years on from ‘losing love to play football’ during poor run with Basel ‘Are you a professional footballer?” was a question Thierno Barry had dreamed about answering in the affirmative, but on this occasion modesty was the best policy. The Frenchman was on a Zanzibar beach, surrounded by a group of 10-year-old boys he had schooled in a kickabout that helped him rediscover his love of the game after a difficult start in Basel. Switzerland was next on Barry’s path after he had proven his talent in the Belgian second division at Beveren but it was not a smooth trajectory. “Two stupid red cards” in his first two appearances and failing to score in 16 Swiss league games left Barry needing to get away, so he headed to Africa and switched off his phone to enjoy the tranquillity of the Indian Ocean, a world away from football. Continue reading...

Thierno Barry ‘dreams big’ after finding goalscoring touch at Everton

‘It turns out we were right and Ruben Amorim was wrong’

It took Ruben Amorim 35 games to win back-to-back Premier League matches for United. Michael Carrick has achieved that feat in just two, against City and Arsenal.

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✍️ Michael Carrick's Manchester United beat the league leaders Arsenal.

🍒 Bournemouth overcome Liverpool in dramatic fashion.

😬 Burnley were moments away from a successful appointment with Dr Tottenham.

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Tomorrow’s @footballweekly.bsky.social

@robyniocowen.bsky.social @will-unwin.bsky.social and Mark Langdon

Any questions?

Romero’s late strike rescues point for troubled Tottenham at Burnley Thomas Frank was brought to Tottenham as the pragmatic choice so will know that when his own supporters are demanding his sacking, he is in trouble. An underserved draw at Burnley, thanks to a last minute Cristian Romero goal, leaves Spurs with two victories in 14 Premier League matches and chants from the away end of “We want Frank out”. If the loss to West Ham resulted in crisis talks last Sunday, Frank must have feared what the next stage after that is, especially with the fans turning. Micky van de Ven gave them hope of a much-needed win but Spurs did not capitalise on the opener, allowing Burnley back into the match, with Axel Tuanzebe and Lyle Foster making the pressure almost unbearable for Frank until Romero offered respite. Continue reading...

Romero’s late strike rescues point for troubled Tottenham at Burnley

Brahim Díaz’s nightmare miss shows dangers of trying to emulate Panenka While the famous penalty technique is the ultimate act of showmanship, the cost of failure is too high to justify Being too smart for your own good is usually drummed out of children before they leave school but sometimes people cannot help themselves. The Panenka penalty, successfully executed, offers the limited benefit of making a goalkeeper look silly and the taker a genius but Brahim Díaz is the latest to learn the cost of what happens when it goes wrong. Díaz was given 15 minutes to consider what to do with his spot-kick after the ludicrous levels of drama in the Africa Cup of Nations final. Maybe this was his undoing: being able to ponder every option, from the rudimentary to the artistic, until deciding to replicate Antonin Panenka’s creation with what could, and should, have been the last kick of the tournament. Continue reading...

Brahim Díaz’s nightmare miss shows dangers of trying to emulate Panenka

No cups, no Europe, 40 matches: is this Manchester United’s post-Ferguson nadir? As Michael Carrick prepares for Saturday’s derby, fans wonder if this is the club’s worst moment – but they are spoilt for choice Manchester United, without a permanent head coach or European football and knocked out of both domestic cups at the first time of asking, are facing another bleak season. In the almost 13 years since Sir Alex Ferguson left, the club have struggled to find stability, with his shadow stretching down from the directors’ box to the dugout, emphasised by the stand named in his honour staring back. Manchester City arrive at Old Trafford on Saturday in the opposite position, having had Pep Guardiola in post for a decade, amassing 18 major trophies. Michael Carrick will take charge of United for the first time since being appointed until the end of the season at a club who appear to be without a functioning long-term plan. This will be a campaign of only 40 competitive games for United, their fewest since 1914-15, with some fans thankful for being able to cut down on trudging visits. So is this, in the post-Ferguson era, the lowest of the lows? Continue reading...

No cups, no Europe, 40 matches: is this Manchester United’s post-Ferguson nadir?

LEAGUE TWO TRANSFER NEWS: James Belshaw will join Notts County from Harrogate Town. The fee and an 18-month deal have been agreed

#efl