The Chelsea manager’s latest scathing tirade against former Manchester United and Sky pundit Gary Neville was as shocking as it was ill-advised. Whether it be that he’s  just unfamiliar with the all-encompassing nature of the English press or that he’s genuinely cracking under the pressure, the state of paranoia that…

kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkRio Ferdinand is a once in a generation player. Often termed a ‘Rolls-Royce’ centre half due to the elegant nature and consummate ease with which he played the game, he has undoubtedly been one of the best defenders in the world this past decade. However, while his style of play…

Aston Villa’s latest setback against Man Utd on Saturday night has been glossed over far too readily, for while it left us with a few questions about the champions ability to overhaul their noisy neighbours, it also left us with far too many unanswered questions about the state of Aston…

The Premier League has long been dogged by claims that it’s an elitist league almost impossible to stay in for promoted clubs - the disparity between quality out on the pitch and reddies in the coffers apparently too large to breach. However, season by season now, promoted clubs have more than…

A noticeable feature of Arsenal’s recent resurgence has been their willingness to do away with the tiki-taka light that had become both their identity and their greatest downfall in recent years. Often derided for having possession for possession’s sake, the summer departures of Fabregas and Nasri,…

  Picking among the bones of the carcass that we call the ‘international break’, I had an epiphany; a startling realisation. It may not be big, it may not be clever, it may not be in-vogue, but after watching Spain pass sideways for roughly 90 minutes in a…

Spain slipped to an unlikely 1-0 defeat at the hands of Fabio Capello’s under-strength England side at Wembley on Saturday. While England’s limited yet encouraging performance has dominated the back pages, and rightly so, little attention has been paid to the quite frankly petulant response of Spain’s players in…

Luis Suarez has been nothing short of a revelation since arriving in the Premier League last January from Ajax for £22.7m. His pace, inventiveness and work rate have stood out in particular and marked him out as one of the Premier League’s true star performers. However, while Suarez was…

A noticeable feature of Arsenal’s recent resurgence has been their willingness to do away with the tiki-taka light that had become both their identity and their greatest downfall in recent years. Often derided for having possession for possession’s sake, the summer departures of Fabregas and Nasri,…

Wigan’s Paraguayan centre-half Antolin Alcaraz looks set to be handed a richly deserved three-match ban for spitting on Richard Stearman in Wolves 3-1 victory at the DW Stadium on Saturday. Many have correctly decried it as the act of a fool and a coward, but some of the vitriol going Alcaraz’s…