Daily Archives: February 16, 2024

Arsenal, Manchester City or Liverpool? The Premier League’s title race analysed


“The maths are pretty simple. Only two points separate the top three with one-third of the season remaining — three points, if Manchester City win their game in hand against Brentford on Tuesday. For the first time in a long time, it looks like we have a proper three-horse race on our hands. There is just a small snag that someone might want to share with Messrs Guardiola, Klopp and Arteta — three does not go into one. So who are the favourites to win the title? …”
The Athletic

How Real Sociedad’s high press gave Paris Saint-Germain a ‘nightmare’


“For Paris Saint-Germain, the Champions League round of 16 has brought heartbreak in five of the last seven years. They theoretically have one foot in the quarter-finals after a round-of-16 first-leg win over Real Sociedad. Despite winning 2-0 at the Parc de Princes, their struggles against the high press are a concern for the return leg and possible future knockout matches. …”
The Athletic

Bayern Munich are… boring. How did Europe’s most thrilling club become so safe?


“… Bayern weren’t bad. No, it was worse than that — they were boring. Watch the Champions League for any length of time and the favourites settle into predictable roles, like a high-school rom-com: Barcelona are the pretty ones, Manchester City the nerds, Paris Saint-Germain the rich kids due a comeuppance, Real Madrid the awkward main characters everyone knows will get a third-act makeover and live happily ever after. …”
The Athletic

An English City Gave Soccer to the World. Now It Wants Credit.


“As far as the man in the food truck is concerned, the patch of land he occupies in Sheffield, England, is about as humdrum as they come. To him, the spot — in the drab parking lot of a sprawling home improvement superstore, its facade plastered in lurid orange — is not exactly a place where history comes alive. John Wilson, an academic at the University of Sheffield’s management school, looks at the same site and can barely contain his excitement. This, he said, is one of the places where the world’s most popular sport was born. He does not see a parking lot. He can see the history: the verdant grass, the sweating players, the cheering crowds. …”
NY Times