Rob Smyth's Blog, page 61

Defiant Guardiola says Premier League rivals behind Manchester City charges – as it happened

Pep Guardiola didn’t hold back in his Man City press conference while Leeds United’s search for a new manager continued

Crystal Palace v Brighton (Saturday, 3pm)

Here’s Ed Aarons’ preview of the big game at Selhurst Park. Palace, who haven’t won at home since October, are in danger of being dragged into a relegation struggle. They are 12th, which looks very snug, but they are only six points clear of Everton in 18th.

The redevelopment of Old Trafford is long overdue, but anybody who visited the grotesque and soulless domes of Qatar’s World Cup will testify that money can buy you a lot of things, but it doesn’t buy you taste.

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Football Daily | Pep Guardiola comes out swinging haymakers in all directions

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Josep Guardiola – or Pep as he’s known to his enemies and friends – rarely bothers turning up for media engagements. Sure, he’s there in body, and his gums occasionally flap, but his head is somewhere else – usually on a training ground, plotting how to get a nine-on-one overload in central midfield. Football Daily assumed today would be no different, and that Guardiola – obliged to talk to the media before City’s 47-0 win over Aston Villa on Sunday – would absent-mindedly dead-bat questions about Manchester City’s alleged contempt for the concept of fair competition. Instead, he turned into Josep Mourinho.

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Tottenham 1-0 Manchester City: Premier League – as it happened

Harry Kane scored his 267th goal for Spurs, breaking Jimmy Greaves’ record, as the home side deservedly beat an off-kilter City

This is the Green Football Weekend and, while Duncan Ferguson didn’t get to try the vegan burger, there are so many great initiatives going on – including one that Chris Redston has emailed in about.

Rainforest Trust UK are a charity partner of the Green Football Weekend, and they are inviting fans to pledge a small donation for every goal scored in the Women’s Super Leagueand Premier League over the weekend. All money raised will be used to protect threatened rainforest in the Brazilian Amazon. It only costs 75p to save half a football pitch of rainforest per goal scored - please click here to find out more and to make your pledge.

To date supporters have already made pledges that will protect 145 football pitches of rainforest for every goal scored, which will store 41,470 metric tonnes of carbon - the same as the annual emissions of 8,936 cars per goal! Let’s hope for lots of goals at Tottenham this afternoon!

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Manchester United 0-0 Everton: Women’s Super League – as it happened

Lucia Garcia hit the bar and Ella Toone the post as a wasteful Manchester United dropped two points on a frustrating afternoon

8 min Park’s dodgy pass goes straight to Russo, 25 yards from goal. She charges into the area and hits a shot that deflects towards Ladd on the edge of the area. Her shot also takes a deflection and spins behind for a corner.

6 min: Chance for Everton! The first corner begets a second, which leads to a good chance for Sevecke. She got up early to flick header across goal that drifted a few yards wide of the far post.

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Chelsea 0-0 Fulham: Premier League – as it happened

Enzo Fernandez made a promising debut but Chelsea struggled to break down an impressive Fulham side

“Fulham are actually quite good (or is that Brighton?),” says Ian Copestake, “and if they play as a team then this is their chance against a squad of sums of cash. I say, do it for the underpaid strikers (the other kind)!”

“As a Chelsea fan I must admit to slight embarrassment after the last two transfer windows,” says Brendan Large. “Scattergun is a generous summation I would say. But even after all these signings the thing I am most dreaming about is that we can get the big injured players back and keep them fit.

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Football Daily | Watching actual football instead of immersing ourselves in transfer sagas

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It’s been a dark 48 hours for Football Daily. The sweats, the shakes, the extravagant retching in the Waitrose deli aisle. We’re like this every February, as we come down from our last hit of Done Deal, the increasingly popular drug that turns adults into morons. The January transfer window has become a fundamental part of English football since it was introduced in 2003. We appreciate what the FA is trying to do, we really do, but we just need one more transfer saga, like. WE NEED ONE MORE UNCONFIRMED AIRPORT SIGHTING.

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England beat South Africa in third ODI after defending mammoth 347 – as it happened

Jofra Archer was back to his brilliant best, taking a career-best 6/40 after spectacular hundreds from Dawid Malan and Jos Buttler

2nd over: England 2-1 (Duckett 0, Malan 0): Ngidi throws himself a few catches before powering in from the Samarai Road End. He squeals one past Jason Roy as he charges into a drive. Roy then has a fly at the next one as well, and fails to make contact. Third time feels somewhat inevitable.

Good morning, Tanya. John Starbuck!

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Brighton 2-1 Liverpool: FA Cup fourth round – as it happened

A moment of genius in injury-time from Kaoru Mitoma put the holders out of the FA Cup and continued Brighton’s great season

1 min Peep peep! Naby Keita gets this mouthwatering game under way.

“Many of my Liverpool-supporting brethren on the WhatsApps (zero sistren obviously) are #FSGOUT primarily for a failure to invest in players like, say, Moises Caicedo,” says Niall Mullen. “But really, so far at least, it’s been money going to the wrong part of the team. Unless Klopp knew all along that Bajcetic would be the new Busquets then it’s the failure to refresh the creaking midfield rather than a failure to splash the cash that has really hurt the team.”

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Manchester City 1-0 Arsenal: FA Cup fourth round – as it happened

Nathan Ake’s calm finish settled a subdued FA Cup tie between the two best teams in the country

“Maybe it is just me,” writes Scott, “but a fight between Pep and Arteta would be the highlight of the day.”

Yeah, that’s the kind of thing nobody likes to see.

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Football Daily | Champions, firefighters, snake-oil salesmen and now … Sean Dyche?

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There’s more to Sean Dyche than meets the ear. His gravelly voice, which makes Phil Mitchell sound like a pubescent teenager in comparison, has reinforced the image of Dyche as somebody who is – to use some of the praise delivered by Social Media Disgrace Twitter’s finest in the last 48 hours – a dinosaur, a thug and a footballing caveman. Oh, and about to be the new Everton manager. Yes, Dyche is set to be appointed at Goodison Park, a decision that the club’s social accounts are expected to announce sometime next month, after Marcelo Bielsa decided not to take the job. Bielsa wanted to coach the U-21s for the rest of the season, allowing the younger players to become familiar with his methods, before taking over the first team in the summer. Everton, whose short-term needs are plentiful, declined.

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