Sports
Are Manchester United now part of the Premier League relegation battle?
Manchester United’s final game of 2024 felt like the moment the big top on the Old Trafford circus started to sink.
Before now, United’s calamities in the last decade or so have been incubated to a tier most other clubs can only dream of: finishing bottom of a Champions League group; coming eighth in the Premier League but winning the FA Cup; losing a Europa League final 11-10 on penalties.
As we turn into 2025, however, the ground on which this weekly entertainment show is built is crumbling to a base level.
After Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth, Newcastle’s 2-0 win inflicted on United a third straight league loss at home for the first time since 1979. It was their sixth defeat in all competitions this December, the most they’ve suffered in a single calendar month since September 1930. They will end the year in 14th place, their lowest position at this stage since 1989.
United are performing like an inverse trapeze artist — “Roll up, roll up, be dazzled at how low we can go!”
Amid such a spiral, the relegation places are looming into the rear view, just seven points behind. Rather than reject the proposal of a scrap for survival, Ruben Amorim is leaning into it. “We have to acknowledge our position,” he said. “I think people are tired of excuses in this club. Sometimes I talk about relegation. Because our club needs a shock.”
United could face the potential of a relegation scrap (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Amorim, charming as he continues to be, gives full and frank answers. It is what has got him this far, winning two titles in Portugal and landing him the job to replace Erik ten Hag. Still, it is startling to hear a United manager talk in these terms and the effect on his team will be interesting to observe.
A sardonic take might be that a trip to the Championship would provide the cover required for further INEOS streamlining, but nobody is seriously planning for a 1974-style jolt to reboot the club.
Amorim also suggested United would have to change coach before he compromised his 3-4-2-1 approach, and the mitigation for him is huge. He has had only four full training sessions with a squad built for a different system — the quality and athleticism of which is being exposed as the weeks go on.
United’s fans gave their view, heartily singing “Amorim’s Red and White Army,” either side of the break.
The man himself said: “I have to sell my idea, I don’t have another one. If I’m going to change all the time it is going to be even worse.”
Amorim’s commitment is commendable. But starting Casemiro and Christian Eriksen in midfield was an idea that had gone stale by the start of last season, let alone midway through this one. Newcastle, as expected, were far too strong for Amorim’s side in the middle of the pitch.
The sight of Bruno Guimaraes passing the ball round Eriksen on the way to Newcastle’s second goal was painful from a United perspective.
It was one of the most catastrophic openings at Old Trafford in recent memory. At 25 minutes, with United failing to register a single attempt at goal, Newcastle had recorded eight shots, with four on target, three of them Opta-defined big chances. That didn’t include two wicked corners from Kieran Trippier that could be counted as real efforts to score given recent goals against United. By the time Sandro Tonali walked into United’s box for a clear strike, only to hit the post, the atmosphere was mutinous.
Rather than either one of the two 32-year-olds in midfield coming off, and with United needing goals, it was Joshua Zirkzee replaced, a player ostensibly bought as a striker. Amorim acted on 33 minutes in what became a brutal, surreal spectacle.
Loud cheers greeted Zirkzee’s number going up, and although some supporters booed that cruel response as a way of showing solidarity, the 23-year-old, a £36.5million ($45.8m) summer signing, headed straight down the tunnel. He did emerge a few minutes later, although his hood was up as he took his seat on the bench.
Zirkzee walks off after being substituted in the first half (Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
Kobbie Mainoo came on, and helped prevent a hammering, but some light comedy continued. Casemiro delivered quite plausibly the most off-target shot humanly possible, and then skewed a much closer finish wide too. Mainoo, gifted the ball by Fabian Schar, had chosen to go to him over Rasmus Hojlund or Amad when four on two, for reasons that are not entirely clear.
At one point Harry Maguire tried to inject urgency, bursting forward with the ball and urging Alejandro Garnacho and Diogo Dalot to run ahead. In apparent frustration, his pass went behind both and out of play. (It is notable United have not scored in three successive games that Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui have started as wing-backs.) Even Amad was afflicted, wasting a good counter-attack by passing the ball into touch.
United resorted to set pieces, with Eriksen seizing on free kicks around halfway as a chance to get the ball into the box. A long throw from Dalot caused some chaos. From one of these situations, Maguire went closest to scoring with a header that hit the post.
Hojlund cut a forlorn figure, a combination of his own limitations and poor service presenting him with one chance, which he put wide.
Up to the final whistle, Marcus Rashford remained on the bench. It was his first appearance in a matchday squad after four omissions. He scored a brace on his last Premier League start, against Everton at the beginning of this long December, but there are good reasons why Amorim has kept him out.
Marcus Rashford was an unused substitute against Newcastle (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
He was brought back to the squad against Newcastle with Bruno Fernandes and Manuel Ugarte suspended. But despite the circumstances, he stayed in his seat. More humbling than not being involved at all? Or the first step towards reintegration? Time will tell.
“I’m not making a point,” Amorim said. “I think about the team. You think a lot about Marcus. I just want to win the game and you can feel it. I’m talking about the idea and the fight for relegation and I want to make a point during a game? No, I just want to win the game.”
The buoyancy of that 4-0 win over Everton, when Rashford and Zirkzee each scored twice, has popped, and so much about United right now feels like a tightrope walk.
(Top photo: Molly Darlington/Copa/Getty Images)
Sports
‘Demon’ Finn Balor settles score with Dominik Mysterio at WrestleMania 42
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LAS VEGAS – Finn Balor and Dominik Mysterio were once brothers in arms in the Judgment Day. The two helped the faction run “Monday Night Raw” for several years.
As championships and opportunities came and went, the rift between Balor and Mysterio grew. It came to a head when Balor caused Mysterio to lose the Intercontinental Championship to Penta. Balor leaving the Judgment Day left Mysterio and Liv Morgan as the leaders with JD McDonagh, Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez sticking around.
Finn Balor is introduced before his match against Dominik Mysterio during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The latter four chose to ride with Mysterio and attacked Balor on one episode of Raw.
The bitter war led to a match Sunday night at WrestleMania 42. To make matters more interesting, Raw General Manager Adam Pearce made the match a street fight hours before the show was set to begin.
Balor had vowed to bring the “Demon” out and he certainly did.
JACOB FATU PUTS DREW MCINTYRE IN THE ‘REAR VIEW’ IN UNSANCTIONED MATCH AT WRESTLEMANIA 42
Finn Balor is introduced before his match against Dominik Mysterio during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Balor made his way to the ring in his “Demon” gear, dripping with red and black paint. Mysterio was in a mask with other Mysterio supporters.
The two then proceeded to beat the crud out of each other.
Mysterio wrapped Balor’s head in between a chair and hit a 619 on him. He tried to pin Balor, but to no avail. At another point, Mysterio tossed Balor through a table set up in the corner.
As many have learned, it’s hard to keep your demons down. Mysterio learned the hard way.
Balor would not give up. Balor clotheslined Mysterio, hit him with a chair multiple times before wrapping his head in between the chair and drop-kicking him into the corner. Balor put Mysterio onto a table and hit the Coup de Grâce for the win.
Dominik Mysterio is introduced before his match against Finn Balor during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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Balor excised his own demons, while Mysterio is still haunted.
Sports
Ryan Ward has a solid debut, but bullpen blows it again as Dodgers lose to Rockies
DENVER — What do you know? The once-stampeding Dodgers have been caged by the Colorado Rockies.
With a 9-6 loss Sunday at Coors Field, the two-time defending World Series champions lost back-to-back games for the first time this season. The Dodgers again couldn’t hold a lead, letting the Rockies tee off for 15 hits.
Nor could the Dodgers keep up offensively at the hitter-friendly park — though they put some pressure on in the ninth inning, when Shohei Ohtani led off with a ground-rule double and the Dodgers scored twice to cut the lead to three runs. Then the new guy, Ryan Ward, made the final out in his big league debut, robbed of a hit and a chance to keep chipping away by a diving Troy Johnston in right field.
Before that, the Rockies — who beat the Dodgers twice in 13 meetings all of last season — chased starter Roki Sasaki from the game in the fifth inning and then ruffled the Dodgers’ relievers. That included closer Edwin Díaz, who came on in the eighth and promptly gave up three singles, a walk and two runs before being pulled with the Dodgers trailing 8-4.
Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki gave up three runs on seven hits in 4-2/3 innings Sunday against the Rockies in Denver.
(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)
He and Blake Treinen combined to face eight batters without getting an out.
“They both weren’t sharp,” said manager Dave Roberts, who had theories but not many answers — though he did have real concern, especially about Díaz, who recently had his right knee checked out by the medical staff.
Roberts said the closer wanted to pitch after nine days off, even though it wasn’t a save situation. But his velocity was slightly down (95.4 mph vs. 95.8) and so, “today was a tough evaluation,” the manager said.
“It really was,” Roberts said. “Because, you know, I know what it’s supposed to look like, and when it doesn’t look like that, it gets a little concerning, really.”
And losing for the second time to the Rockies, who are now 9-13? Being in danger of losing their four-game series, after arriving in Denver without having lost to a National League opponent, against a club that hasn’t made the postseason since 2018?
It’s well below the bar the Dodgers have set, and it added a bitter note to Ward’s otherwise sweet debut.
Ward punched a big league clock for the first time wearing No. 67 and cranked his first hit off Rockies starter Michael Lorenzen in the fourth inning, lining a changeup to right field for a single that scored Andy Pages, made it 3-0 and got the 20-some members of Ward’s party up, jumping in place, hugging and high-fiving.
“When I was on first base, I got to see them all jumping around up there,” Ward said. “That was a pretty special moment.”
He also singled in the sixth and swung on the first pitch in his first at-bat, a fly out in the third inning.
The Dodgers gave Sasaki a 2-0 lead in the third. Alex Freeland drove in Hyeseong Kim, and Shohei Ohtani doubled in Freeland — and extended his career-best on-base streak to 51 games, moving past Willie Keeler into third place in Dodgers history.
Sasaki went 4-2/3 innings, threw 78 pitches and gave up three runs on seven hits, striking out two and walking two. His ERA after his fourth start: 6.11, worst in the six-man rotation.
The Dodgers fell behind 6-5 in the seventh when Treinen — who was cleared Friday after he was struck in the head by a batted ball during batting practice — gave up four consecutive hits, including a two-run home run by Mickey Moniak.
The result likely will be a minor detail when Ward tells the story years from now about getting the call after first baseman Freddie Freeman was placed on the paternity list.
The Dodgers’ No. 19 prospect and reigning Pacific Coast League MVP spent the last seven years in the minors. Last season, he hit 36 home runs and drove in 122 runs with a .937 on-base-plus-slugging percentage for triple-A Oklahoma City, and he has a 1.020 OPS and four homers this year.
Ward made it a point to improve his chase rate, draw more walks and get on base more frequently, everything the Dodgers asked of him. He also passed the broadest patience test.
“The plate discipline, being a better hitter … he’s done all that,” Roberts said. “He’s improved his defense. But honestly, for me, just not to let his lack of opportunity in the big leagues deter him. That’s easy when you get frustrated and let it affect performance, and he hasn’t done that.”
If anything, Ward said, the waiting made him better.
“I used it to keep going. ‘OK, if I’m not there yet, what do I have to do to get there?’” he said. “‘What part of my game do I need to work on to keep getting better?’
“I used it as fire to keep working.”
That will be the Dodgers’ assignment too.
In the finale of the four-game series Monday, the Dodgers are expected to start left-hander Justin Wrobleski (2-0, 2.12) against Colorado left-hander Jose Quintana (0-1, 5.63).
Sports
ESPN’s Stephen A Smith hears boos from WrestleMania 42 crowd
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LAS VEGAS – Danhausen’s curse may be real after all – just ask Stephen A. Smith and the New York Mets.
While the latter dropped their 10th game in a row, Smith got his share of the curse on Saturday night during Night 1 of WrestleMania 42. Smith was in attendance for WWE’s premier event of the year and heard massive boos from the crowd.
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith was sitting ringside to watch the action. The ESPN star appeared on the videoboard above the ring at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. He appeared to embrace the reaction and smiled through it.
The boos came after Danhausen appeared on “First Take” on Friday – much to the chagrin of the sports pundit. Smith appeared perplexed by Danhausen’s appearance. Smith said he heard about Danhausen and called him a “bad luck charm.”
Danhausen said Smith had been “rude” to him and put the dreaded “curse” on the commentator.
WWE STAR DANHAUSEN SAYS METS ‘CURSE’ ISN’T EXACTLY LIFTED AS TEAM DROPS NINTH STRAIGHT GAME
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith is far from the only one dealing with the effects of the “curse.”
Danhausen agreed to “un-curse” the Mets during their losing streak. However, he told Fox News Digital earlier this week that there was a reason why the curse’s removal didn’t take full effect.
“I did un-curse the Mets. But it didn’t work because, I believe it was Brian Gewirtz who did not pay Danhausen. He did not send me my money so it did not take full effect,” Danhausen said. “Once I have the money, perhaps it will actually work because right now it’s probably about a half of an un-cursing. It’s like a layaway situation.”
Danhausen enters the arena before his match against Kit Wilson during SmackDown at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on April 10, 2026. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
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On “Friday Night SmackDown,” WWE stars like The Miz and Kit Wilson were also targets of Danhausen’s curse.
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