Scott Murray's Blog, page 44

The Fiver | Frank Lampard and fears for another dignity-sapping Everton scrap

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The famous Everton Football Club – founder members of the English league, nine-time title winners, Dixie’s team, the school of science, the Bank of England – is going through something of a transitional phase at the moment. They last lifted silverware in 1995, since when major trophies have been won by Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Leicester, Liverpool, Portsmouth, Wigan, Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur, Blackburn, Middlesbrough, Birmingham City – Birmingham City, for goodness sake – and Swansea. Say what you will about the poorly received 2013 crest, but in retrospect the designer may have been on to something when they took Nil Satis Nisi Optimum off the bottom.

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Carabao Cup clockwatch: Everton and Brentford knocked out – as it happened

Everton made 11 changes and were spanked 4-1 by Bournemouth, while League Two Gillingham beat Premier League Brentford on penalties

GOAL! MK Dons 1-0 Morecambe (O’Hora 18). Warren O’Hora gives MK Dons the lead against fellow League One strugglers Morecambe, pearling a glorious diagonal volley into the bottom right from 12 yards.

GOAL! Bristol City 0-2 Lincoln (House 15). In the centre circle, Ben House shoves young central defender Joe Low off the ball with some candy-baby energy, strides towards the Bristol City box, and slams home. A shock on the cards here, as the League One side double their lead over the Championship men.

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The Fiver | Why FSG’s final act as Liverpool owners could define their legacy

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The purported sale of Liverpool Football Club by Fenway Sports Group has sent whatever lies on the cliche continuum between a shockwave and a ripple through the world of football. Who will take control of one of the crown jewels of the English game? And when? And for how much? To which the answers are, erm, oh look, it’s Worthington Cup week. Nobody knows anything yet, except that whatever finally happens, Liverpool fans will join those of Chelsea, Manchester City and Newcastle United in being expected to address complex contradictory emotional and geopolitical positions to a problem not of their own making, to the satisfaction of all the people wagging big fat self-righteous fingers in their faces.

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Everton 0-2 Leicester: Premier League – as it happened

Youri Tielemans scored another belter as stylish Leicester clambered out of the bottom three, moving above Everton in doing so

4 min: Maddison and Dewsbury-Hall combine again, shuttling the ball up the middle of the park and feeding Daka, who attempts to thread a shot across Pickford and into the bottom right. He doesn’t really catch it, and it’s an easy claim for the keeper. Some early warning signs for Everton, though.

2 min: That’s found the Leicester fans in good voice, while most of Goodison descends into a nervous crackle. It may well be that Leicester have decided attack is the best form of defence.

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Real Sociedad 0-1 Manchester United: Europa League – as it happened

Alejandro Garnacho’s first goal for United wasn’t enough to send his team straight into the last 16, and now some big names lie in wait

7 min: Marin wriggles away from a couple of Manchester United challenges in the centre circle. His attempt to release Sorloth down the right is unceremoniously nixed by Shaw’s no-nonsense intervention, but the home fans enjoyed that little burst of skill.

5 min: Merino slips a pass down the inside-left channel to release Carlos Fernandez into the United box. Fernandez lashes high and hard into the side netting, and the flag goes up correctly for offside anyway.

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The Fiver | Europe’s last 16 in the time-honoured reverse-order rundown style

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So that’s the last 16 of this season’s Big Cup decided, then. Not too many shocks to report, certainly not if you had Juventus and Barcelona’s number from the get-go, which, let’s face it, practically everyone did. But who will go on to win? In lieu of stories in The Fiver’s NewsBarrel™, the bottom of which having been totally worn through by decades of frenzied scraping with The Fiver’s DesperationScoop®, we’ve looked into our crystal ball and answered that question in the time-honoured reverse-order rundown style. Listicle full-steam ahead! Possible unemployment ahoy!

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Real Madrid 5-1 Celtic: Champions League – as it happened

Celtic’s European campaign ended in heavy defeat at the home of the champions

2 min: Maeda closes down Courtois, whose clearance pings back out for a goal kick. Celtic have clearly decided that, given they don’t get to play here too often, they’re not going to die wondering.

1 min: A bright-ish start by Celtic, as Mooy presses forward, then feeds Juranović out on the right. Juranović wangs his cross deep into the stand behind.

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Marseille 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur: Spurs book place in Champions League last 16: as it happened

Another day, another comeback for Spurs, who made it through to the last 16 after an impressive second-half display

5 min: Guendouzi makes more ground down the right. He slips Clauss clear on the overlap. Clauss skitters along the byline and has team-mates waiting for the cutback, but instead threads a strange ball straight at Lloris, who will be thankful for the gift. Spurs need to wake up and quick.

3 min: Harit dinks a low cross into the Spurs box from the left-hand edge of the area. Sanchez stoops and guides a header across Lloris and inches wide of the bottom right. Had that been on target, Lloris was beaten. A lovely effort.

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The Fiver | Hotel-based fireworks adding to the Tottenham narrative set-up

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When the referees and VAR operatives of Uefa betrayed their brazen anti-Tottenham agenda by correctly ruling out Harry Kane’s late qualification-clinching winner against Sporting, the matchday six showdown in Marseille suddenly assumed epic proportions. Spurs currently sit atop Group D, but it’s tight, and they need a point on the French Riviera if they’re to make it through to the knockout stage. Only problem being, they don’t have a good record in France, where they’ve never won a competitive fixture, so if history is any guide, and if being Spurs is any guide, this one on Tuesday evening is going right down to the wire.

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Liverpool 1-2 Leeds: Premier League – as it happened

Crysencio Summerville, 21 tomorrow, celebrated by scoring a late – and deserved – winner at Anfield to ease the pressure on Jesse Marsch

7 min: Gomez, clearly rattled by his mistake, flies a simple pass straight out of play. He’ll need to clear his head quicksmart.

6 min: … and so Liverpool go behind yet again in the Premier League, for the eighth time this season. They try to bounce back immediately, winning a corner down the right. Van Dijk then heads harmlessly over.

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