Rob Smyth's Blog, page 39

Chelsea 4-0 Preston North End: FA Cup third round – as it happened

The home side laboured in the first half but ran riot after Armando Broja opened the scoring with a fine header

5 min Chelsea are working the ball from left to right, looking for an opening. Thus far, no dice.

2 min The right wing-back Potts nicks possession, gallops forward and tries to curl a pass around Colwill to put Osmajic through on goal. Colwill reads it well and intercepts.

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Tottenham 1-0 Burnley, Brentford 1-1 Wolves, Fulham 1-0 Rotherham: FA Cup – as it happened

Pedro Porro’s knuckleball screamer put Spurs through, while Tommy Doyle’s heatseeker earned ten-man Wolves a replay

Wolves are down to 10 men inside the first 10 minutes at Brentford. Joao Gomes was given a straight red card for catching Christian Norgaard on the Achilles. I haven’t seen it because Spurs v Burnley is the only one of the three games being shown in England, but there’s a bit of debate on FFS, formerly known as Twitter, about whether the challenge was worthy of a strong yellow or a red.

Norgaard has limped off to be replaced by Vitaly Janelt.

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Luke Humphries beats Luke Littler to glory: PDC world darts final 2024 – as it happened

Luke Humphries came from 4-2 down – and withstood a mid-match battering from Luke Littler – to prove beyond doubt he is the world’s greatest player

This is not a deepfake

Who’s going to tell him that technically Littler should be on the left because he was in the top half of the draw?

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Football Daily | Manchester United, football’s very own version of Squid Game

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For most of Sir Alex Ferguson’s time at Manchester United, one bit of wisdom was repeated throughout football. No, not “youse are all effing idiots”, but, “when you leave Old Trafford, the only way is down”. Gerard Piqué was the first to inadvertently challenge it when he took an unlikely shortcut from Manchester United reserves to probably the greatest club side of all time. Then, when Ferguson retired in 2013, the cliché was properly flipped on its head. In 2024, the only way is down when you enter Old Trafford – down into the Bermuda Triangle where careers are lost forever. From Morgan Schneiderlin to Mason Mount via Anthony Martial and Jadon Sancho, potentially world-class footballers have become victims of football’s version of Squid Game. Then again, given United’s transfer policy and wage structure, it should probably – yes, we really are going to go there – be called Quid Game.

Re: yesterday’s Football Daily. I’m a simple fella with simple needs and all this Villa fan asks for 2024: Frank Lampard’s Birmingham City” – Antony Train.

Re: yesterday’s Quote of the Day. In one – and possibly only one – respect, I am ahead of Jürgen Klopp in business on the touchline. Just like him I’ve lost one or two kilos since getting married, meaning that my wedding ring is also at risk of being lost during a match. However, unlike him, I spotted this as a risk in advance so am careful to leave the ring at home whenever I’m coaching. That said, if we could get professional TV camera staff down to be on standby to recover the ring if lost, I’d be happy to start wearing it on match days in the Nottinghamshire U-18s Saturday League (Division 4)” – David Ede.

Why is Klopp’s cameraman carrying a donkey’s head under his right arm as pictured in that Quote of the Day?” – Mick Beeby.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

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Luke Littler reaches PDC world darts final; Humphries humiliates Williams – as it happened

Luke Littler was mesmerising again in beating Rob Cross 6-2 to set up a final against Luke Humphries, who swatted Scott Williams aside 6-0

“Watching Littler has felt like watching Mike Tyson in 1986, so much potential being realised almost too fast,” says Gregory Phillips. “And beyond his absurd talent, the amount of poise he has shown so far is ridiculous.

“He’s already proved he can do it on the big stage, and repeatedly. Curious to see what happens when someone goes toe-to-toe with him, and yet somehow we might not even get to see that this year.”

I like the Tyson comparison – Cris Freddi, the best sports historian I’ve ever read, said a similar thing after the Barney game. Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the treble 20.

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Liverpool 4-2 Newcastle: Premier League – as it happened

Mo Salah scored two, made one and missed a penalty as Liverpool smashed the Premier League xG record to overwhelm Newcastle

Newcastle’s last victory over Liverpool came eight years ago, when Martin Skrtel and Gini Wijnaldum scored the goals in a 2-0 win. Confused? Splendid.

The main man on the title race

Aston Villa improved massively, Tottenham is back, Arsenal improved massively, we are kind of back, and City are City.

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Luke Littler thrashes Brendan Dolan, Cross beats Dobey in epic: PDC World Darts Championship – as it happened

The Fairytale of Ally Pally continued on New Year’s Day, with 16-year-old Luke Littler storming through to a semi-final against Rob Cross

Dobey 4-2 Cross (legs 2-2) Both men hold – Dobey taking out 93 in two darts with Cross waiting – so now Cross is throwing to stay in the World Championship.

“Now this is exciting,” writes Jeff Sax, “not like the tiki-taka of the PL.”

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Luke Littler beats Raymond van Barneveld: PDC World Darts Championship – as it happened

The astonishing 16-year-old Luke Littler produced his best performance yet to beat Barney 4-1 and move into the quarter-finals

Anderson takes the fifth set. He’s one away, having averaged 107 in that set.

Anderson breaks! He’s 2-1 up in the fifth set and throwing for a 3-2 lead.

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Luton Town 2-3 Chelsea: Premier League – as it happened

Cole Palmer scored two superb goals before Chelsea survived a ferocious late onslaught from the home side

2 min Madueke concedes a cheap free-kick on the Luton left, which allows the big men to come forward. Doughty’s cross is headed away well by Disasi.

1 min Peep peep! Luton kick off from left to right as we watch.

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Newcastle 1-3 Nottingham Forest: Premier League – as it happened

Chris Wood scored a clinical hat-trick against his old club as Forest came from behind to stun Newcastle

3 min: Chance for Forest! Elanga’s shot is blocked and rebounds to Miley on the edge of the area. He runs into his own player, allowing Gibbs-White to seize possession and drag a shot just wide of the left-hand post. That was a pretty good chance.

1 min Trippier wins a corner for Newcastle inside 20 seconds. He takes it short to Almiron, who works it infield to Longstaff. His through pass back towards Trippier is cut out, the end.

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