What the papers say


Fernandes takes aim at Ratcliffe for saying some players ‘overpaid’ and ‘not good enough’
- ‘It’s not nice to hear certain things,’ says United captain
- Fernandes responds after co-owner’s critical interviews
Bruno Fernandes has aimed a barb at Sir Jim Ratcliffe by stating no player wants to be told they are “not good enough or overpaid”, as Manchester United’s co-owner said this week regarding some of Ruben Amorim’s squad.
The captain was speaking after his hat-trick in Thursday’s Europa League last-16 second leg 4-1 win over Real Sociedad that sealed United’s passage to a quarter-final against Lyon.
Continue reading...Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend
Myles Lewis-Skelly could return to an old role, Wolves are still in danger and United’s strikers are running out of time
Premier League safety is all that matters to David Moyes and an eight-game unbeaten run – Everton’s best sequence since going nine matches without defeat under Ronald Koeman in 2016-17 – has almost accomplished a task that looked much more onerous when he returned in January. Publicly, the Everton manager maintains the job is not done and that no contract issues will be resolved until the club’s top-flight status is mathematically confirmed. Privately, and beneath the more relaxed demeanour that he has brought back with him to Goodison Park, there may also be a fierce ambition to finish above two clubs who deemed him surplus to requirements. Everton can go three points clear of one, West Ham, and leapfrog another, Manchester United, with victory over Graham Potter’s visitors on Saturday. With Liverpool, Arsenal, Nottingham Forest, Manchester City and Chelsea to come after an impending two-week break, Moyes could do with a more clinical display from Everton to step closer to his aims. Andy Hunter
Everton v West Ham, Saturday 3pm (all times GMT)
Ipswich v Nottingham Forest, Saturday 3pm
Manchester City v Brighton, Saturday 3pm
Southampton v Wolves, Saturday 3pm
Bournemouth v Brentford, Saturday 5.3pm
Arsenal v Chelsea, Sunday 1.30pm
Fulham v Tottenham, Sunday 1.30pm
Leicester v Manchester United, Sunday 7pm
Continue reading...Manchester United must win titles for Bruno Fernandes, says Ruben Amorim
- United in Europa League last eight after beating Sociedad
- ‘We need to help him win titles because he deserves this’
Ruben Amorim praised Bruno Fernandes’s hat-trick performance that swept Real Sociedad aside and took Manchester United into the Europa League quarter-finals, saying his side “needs to win titles” for the captain.
After Mikel Oyarzabal struck first via an early penalty, United dominated, Fernandes scoring two from the spot on 16 and 50 minutes, before a superb late strike to complete the hat-trick. Diogo Dalot’s added-time fourth sealed progress.
Continue reading...Fernandes hat-trick powers electric Manchester United past Real Sociedad
Manchester United kept their trophy hopes alive with a swaggering display that battered Real Sociedad and must be the Ruben Amorim blueprint.
From the moment they fell behind early on, his side were electrified, as if finally locating the high-voltage socket under him and gleefully plugging themselves in. United came at Real Sociedad relentlessly, a whir of energy and creativity that is the best advertisement yet for where their head coach might take them.
Continue reading...Manchester United v Real Sociedad: Europa League last-16, second leg – live
- Updates from a finely-poised last-16 tie (agg 1-1, 8pm KO)
- Get in touch! Email Daniel | Live scores
It’s big night tonight for Højlund. He’s improved a bit in the last couple of games – he’s getting chances and missing them, rather than disappearing – and has done well in Europe since joining United. I think Amorim has him pegged, as it goes:
“We have to look at Rasmus as a player – he has the pace, he has the technique, he’s scored some goals that are really hard to score. Sometimes he doesn’t choose the better run, sometimes he’s so anxious to touch the ball and he moves away from the goal. We address that in training but sometimes it is the confidence of the player.”
Continue reading...Corporate nonsense betrays football’s soul and sense of community
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s company Compass is sadly symptomatic of what football has become
What’s this? A second article about the Ineos Compass in a week – it’s this kind of inefficiency that would never happen at Manchester United. But I have been staring at the Ineos Compass for the past 48 hours. For those of you fortunate enough not to have encountered it, according to Ineos’s website “the Ineos Compass was devised by chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe as a fun way of attempting to capture how Ineos works, and why”.
To the untrained (and perhaps also to the trained) eye, it is just a circle with words in it. “Words we like” are in the top portion and “words we don’t like” in the bottom. We like “no human is limited” – despite Sir Jim highlighting the limitations of a number of first-team players on Monday.
Continue reading...