What the papers say

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Updated: 3 hours 25 min ago

Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action

Mon, 12/11/2023 - 08:00

Liverpool go top, Chelsea seem to need even more financial backing, and no one wants to bet against Villa

The bad news for Luton is that they’ve already played the (notional) best three teams in the league at home. In the past five weeks, they’ve drawn with Liverpool, lost 4-3 to Arsenal to a 97th-minute winner, and gone down to a narrow 2-1 defeat by Manchester City. In all three games they’ve gone ahead. Playing the elite clearly suits Rob Edwards’ side. The issue is whether they can produce that quality of performance against lesser sides. They beat Crystal Palace 2-1 at home during that run, and that has to be the model. Playing a 3-4-3 gives them plenty of crossing options – and Andros Townsend remains a very fine deliverer of a ball, as he proved in laying on Elijah Adebayo’s goal against City – and they have the physicality to take advantage. The worry is that they are now four points adrift, even with Everton’s points deduction; they could do with finding some of the luck they’ve lacked against the big three against more beatable sides. Jonathan Wilson

Match report: Luton 1-2 Manchester City

Match report: Crystal Palace 1-2 Liverpool

Match report: Manchester United 0-3 Bournemouth

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‘Not acceptable’: Bruno Fernandes sorry for latest Manchester United slip

Sun, 12/10/2023 - 14:25
  • Captain frustrated and baffled after Bournemouth collapse
  • United face daunting Bayern and Liverpool in coming week

Bruno Fernandes has apologised for Manchester United’s display in their 3-0 home loss to Bournemouth on Saturday and called for greater consistency from his side ahead of a daunting set of fixtures in the next week.

United face Bayern Munich in a must-win Champions League game on Tuesday followed by a trip to Liverpool in the league five days later. Erik ten Hag’s side appear unlikely to triumph in either fixture if their display at the weekend is anything to go by, with United booed off by their own supporters having deservedly suffered a seventh defeats in 16 league games. That the result came only three days after a 2-1 win over Chelsea only further highlighted the unpredictable nature of the Old Trafford side.

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'We're not good enough': Ten Hag takes responsibility for Manchester United's loss – video

Sat, 12/09/2023 - 19:59

Erik ten Hag said he 'takes responsibility' for Manchester United's humbling 3-0 loss to Bournemouth, saying that they were not 'ready for the game'. He added: 'I think we have to always be ready for the game. And so I have to take the responsibility for that. I have to prepare my team that they are ready for the game.' It is United's seventh league defeat of the campaign, and fourth at home, leaving them languishing in sixth place on 27 points.

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‘We’re really inconsistent’: Ten Hag implores United to toughen up

Sat, 12/09/2023 - 19:15
  • Manager says team must improve after loss to Bournemouth
  • Ten Hag takes responsibility for dismal performance

Erik ten Hag admitted Manchester United are not good enough to achieve the consistency of an elite team after they were humiliated 3-0 by Bournemouth.

Dominic Solanke’s fifth-minute strike was followed by second‑half goals from Philip Billing and Marcos Senesi to secure Bournemouth’s first win at Old Trafford. United’s disjointed, dismal display followed Wednesday’s 2-1 home win over Chelsea to continue a pattern of uneven displays and results.

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Manchester United stunned 3-0 as Bournemouth break Old Trafford duck

Sat, 12/09/2023 - 17:18

This was jubilation for Bournemouth and a crimson embarrassment for Manchester United which would have been worse had Dango Ouattara’s late strike not been ruled out, via VAR, because of the player’s handball. But make no mistake, Erik ten Hag’s team were a rabble reminiscent of the United of the dog days under his predecessor, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, and so at the final whistle the boos that greeted them were no surprise.

Bournemouth’s second goal, in the 68th minute, killed off Ten Hag’s side en route to a first ever victory at Old Trafford. A loose Luke Shaw pass was intercepted by the Cherries, who motored upfield. Dominic Solanke fed Marcus Tavernier on the left and, when he lifted the ball in, up rose substitute Philip Billing to crash in a memorable header.

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Jadon Sancho likely to leave Manchester United in January over non-apology

Fri, 12/08/2023 - 22:29
  • Forward refusing to back down in row with Erik ten Hag
  • Marcus Rashford told to force his way back into United team

Jadon Sancho is likely to leave Manchester United in January due to his refusal to apologise to Erik ten Hag for questioning the Dutchman’s explanation for why he was left out of September’s loss at Arsenal.

After United were defeated 3-1 at the Emirates Stadium, Ten Hag stated Sancho had not travelled to London because he had not trained well enough. This led to the forward claiming on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Ten Hag’s explanation was “completely untrue”, pinning the statement to his account. Sancho removed the statement two days later but remains suspended after failing to retract his criticism of United’s manager.

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Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend

Fri, 12/08/2023 - 00:30

Title contenders meet at Villa Park, Brighton build for the future and Chelsea should stop making excuses

The “spoiled” supporters of Crystal Palace will get another glorious treat this weekend with the early Saturday kick-off against Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool. The Eagles’ only win in their previous eight matches came at Turf Moor against Burnley and they have suffered demoralising defeats to Everton, Luton and Bournemouth since. Roy Hodgson took umbrage with the fans booing his side’s dismal efforts against the Cherries on Wednesday. Palace were poor throughout, barely laying a glove on Andoni Iraola’s side, and deserved criticism. Picking a fight with the supporters is rarely a sensible move, regardless of a person’s standing at the club. Hodgson was never favoured at Anfield in his dreary, short-lived spell as manager, and it is unlikely his popularity will drop to those levels in south London. If he wants to get the supporters back on side, though, he will need his team to show more fight, regardless of the result. Will Unwin

Crystal Palace v Liverpool, Saturday 12.30pm (all times GMT)

Brighton v Burnley, Saturday 3pm

Manchester United v Bournemouth, Saturday 3pm

Sheffield United v Brentford, Saturday 3pm

Wolves v Nottingham Forest, Saturday 3pm

Aston Villa v Arsenal, Saturday 5.30pm

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Ten Hag admits people told him not to take ‘impossible’ Manchester United job

Thu, 12/07/2023 - 23:01
  • Ten Hag: ‘Everyone was telling me, you can’t succeed’
  • Coach says he wanted challenge of revitalising ‘great club’

Erik ten Hag has revealed he was warned not to become the Manchester United manager because it was deemed an “impossible” job.

The 53-year-old Dutchman moved to Old Trafford from Ajax in 2022 but has come under pressure during his second season at the club. United sit sixth in the Premier League table after Wednesday 2-1 win over Chelsea, nine points behind the leaders, Arsenal, while they have struggled in Europe.

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Galtier racism trial raises questions for Brailsford, Ineos and Manchester United

Thu, 12/07/2023 - 12:00

Coach denies race and religious discrimination charges in episode at Nice that puts focus on judgment of would-be United part-owners

As recently as May this year Christophe Galtier was coaching Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé and celebrating a Ligue 1 title triumph with Paris Saint-Germain. On 15 December he will stand trial in a French court on criminal charges of race and religious discrimination – offences committed, it is alleged, while he was manager of Nice between June 2021 and July 2022, charges Galtier denies.

This is real-world criminal justice, not football’s soft-soap version. If found guilty Galtier could face up to three years in prison. The stakes are vertiginously high in other ways too, at a trial that promises a dark night of the soul for French football and France itself, at a time of deeply fractured domestic politics.

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