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This is still a three-horse title race – the 10 reasons why Man City might drop points

Published

2 months ago

April 15, 2024

This is still a three-horse title race – the 10 reasons why Man City might drop points

It seems unlikely that north London denizen TS Eliot was an Arsenal fan, but his poetry suggests otherwise.

“April is the cruellest month,” begins The Waste Land. “I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,” laments The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. “This is the way the challenge ends; not with a bang but a whimper,” was probably the first draft of The Hollow Men.

Sunday was a disappointing day not just for Arsenal and Liverpool fans, but neutrals who wanted to see the three-way title battle continue. Liverpool’s 1-0 loss against Crystal Palace and Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat to Villa leaves Manchester City two points clear at the top of the league and, as frontrunners, Pep Guardiola’s side are near infallible.

“I have known it all already, known it all,” moans Eliot. But cheer up, Tommy. There is hope yet.

Here are 10 entirely realistic reasons why City could still drop points.

This is a serious article, so let’s start seriously. Can a team do the treble twice in a row? With injuries mounting, games tripling, emotions deepening — can City rouse themselves once more?

There is a reason why a treble — or a double, for that matter — is so rare. Playing in multiple competitions does have an impact. When the margins are so tight, fatigue levels, tactical planning and mental freshness are even more crucial.

When cup competitions are straight knockout, league matches against lower-ranked opponents are naturally the games which can slip out of focus. City host Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday, play Chelsea in the FA Cup three days later, before travelling to Brighton five days on.

Guardiola has already said City are in “big, big trouble” with fatigue and injuries. So that is surely cause for hope for Liverpool and Arsenal?

Manchester City might need a bigger trophy room (Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

The Spurs

Won two, lost five. Has Guardiola ever had a record that bad? Taking on Lionel Messi in the crossbar challenge? Credit card roulette at Manchester’s finest restaurants? Family games of Uno?

City have always struggled at Spurs. Their Premier League record in north London is poorer than any other fixture. Yes, they may have beaten them in the FA Cup this January — but that record does not include their Champions League quarter-final defeat in 2019.

Every manager’s mind has a dark room where they store their worst defeats. Guardiola’s contains a Beavertown brewery and a retractable NFL field.

Tottenham may have been overwhelmed by Newcastle, but both their meetings with City this season have been close. They still have the Champions League to chase, and they will not back down.

Guardiola tends to be dumbfounded by league trips to the Tottenham Hotspur stadium (Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Is 30 goals in 37 matches really a down season? Since when did that make you, as Roy Keane suggested, a League Two player? Anyway.

If Haaland fails to score for the rest of the season, perhaps then there is a conversation to be had. For now, City’s rivals simply have to hope the wheels come off.

Pep overcomplicates it

“I always overthink,” said Guardiola in 2022. “I always create new tactics and ideas, and tomorrow you will see a new one. I overthink a lot, that’s why I have very good results. I love it.”

“If it works I am brave, if it doesn’t work then I’m overthinking,” he added one year later. So go on — be brave.

When you already play four centre-backs, why stop there?

Play a back four of Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias, and Josko Gvardiol. John Stones is virtually a central midfielder already. Plonk Kyle Walker (yes, he can count as a centre-back) on the right wing.

The rest of them? Recall Taylor Harwood-Bellis from Southampton and put him up front in the Andy Carroll role. At 6ft 5in (196cm), Finley Burns must be decent in nets. Luke Mbete can return from Den Bosch and use his left foot from the left wing. Max Alleyne, at 18, has been on the bench this season. Fancy joining Stones in the double pivot? There is already chatter about 16-year-old Stephen Mfuni’s technical quality. Stick him in at No 10.

Guardiola believes in total football. They’ll be fine. When you’ve won it all, the only way left to win is to… win better.

Forest’s newest investment finally comes good

Imagine the scenario: Nottingham Forest are battling for Premier League survival and keeping City at bay. In the 71st minute, Phil Foden finally puts them ahead. With 88 minutes gone, Chris Wood bundles Forest back into it. Bedlam.

But before the cheers die away, the whistle blows. VAR review. Suspected foul in the box. The referee walks to the monitor. The City Ground has seen this story before. But then he spots something in the crowd — and walks away.

Amid the depths of celebration, supporters stop for one moment. What made the referee change his mind? They search for an answer — and find it.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Mark Clattenburg.

This superhero has no cape, but Forest’s referee consultant has the regulations to his front and justice at his back. Gotham City is safe from PGMOL. The Premier League table is level once more.

This is Clattenburg’s time (Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)

Rodri’s break turns into a gap year

Rodri has said he needs a break, but remember this is a player who lives the lifestyle of a university student. He lived in student accommodation. He has a degree in business administration. He drove a second-hand Opel Corsa. He is one step away from selling you £2 entry to Tuesday club nights at Pryzm.

“Spending time with young people the same as you,” he told Manchester City’s website when asked why he considered university the best time of his life. “Studying and going out sometimes. It was good… a great time.”

But in recent months, with the intensity of the campaign — he has played 3,498 minutes for City across all competitions this season — some of this purity must have fallen away.

“I do need a rest,” he told reporters after City’s 3-3 draw with Real Madrid, with the dazed air of anyone who has attended a 9am lecture on a hangover.

One week is a brief break, sure. But why not take three months? Why not find yourself? You’re only in your twenties once. British Airways offers student discounts on flights. There’s a world out there to discover.

Rodri is knackered and needs a gap year (Oscar J. Barroso/Europa Press via Getty Images)

“Jarrod, maaaaate, how’s it going cuz?”

“Gaffer? Gaffer? Gaffer? Moyesy?”

“Kalvin… how’s the new digs? Passport renewed?”

Declan Rice’s phone bill has never been higher.

City host West Ham on the final day. By the time it kicks off, there is little more Rice can do, except take care of his own business. The real work, therefore, starts before. West Ham have nothing to play for — it is time for that to change. Every negotiating card is on the table.

He’s sold his car to Lucas Paqueta. He is willing to withdraw from the England squad in favour of Phillips. David Sullivan has been promised his first-born son. West Ham win.

Roberto De Zerbi’s job interview to remember

This season has slightly fizzled out for Brighton & Hove Albion, who are 10th in the league and winless in four. Roberto De Zerbi, still, has been one of the most impressive managers of the past 18 months. Arguably, only Guardiola exceeds De Zerbi in pure madcap, tactical improvisation.

In the summer, the big jobs are open. Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Barcelona.

The Athletic might have reported on Saturday that Brighton are increasingly confident of De Zerbi staying, but that comes amid a backdrop of talks over a new contract being put on the back burner and the coach has been publicly non-committal about his future.

Showing rather than telling is the first rule of job interviews — and De Zerbi has the opportunity to show his tactical acumen by outwitting Guardiola.

City initially deal with Brighton’s pioneering use of an overlapping sweeper and a pressing pattern based on the Fibonacci sequence, but are flummoxed by the inspired introduction of Jason Steele as an inverted trequartista.

There is no outwitting De Zerbi (Mike Morese/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Gary O’Neil’s luck turns

Gary O’Neil seems an unlikely contender to be on MTV’s Welcome To My Crib, but let’s imagine for a moment that he opens up the doors to his Wolverhampton mansion.

The doormat is a four-leaf clover. As you enter, seven lucky cats wave their hellos. Rabbits’ feet hang from the kitchen beams. Mirrors are banned, O’Neil tells you, demonstrating how he brushes his teeth in the reflection from the bathroom window.

There is an almost overwhelming smell of incense.

No team has been unluckier than Wolves this season. O’Neil has tried reason, he has tried rationalisation. He’s tried avoiding ladders. All that’s left is faith… and Nathan Fraser.

Foden hits the bar. Jeremy Doku trips over his laces. A wild swipe from Max Kilman deflects in off Hwang Hee-chan’s bum. Molineux erupts.

City’s 115 charges reach a sudden conclusion

The metaphorical gavel falls. White smoke emanates from the ceiling of Premier League HQ. This day was thought to be months down the line — but a decision has been made.

City face 115 charges of breaching the Premier League’s financial rules across nine different seasons. If they are found guilty of at least some of them, points deductions are a realistic outcome.

Of course, City will say this is impossible, the most ridiculous suggestion on this list. After all, they vehemently deny the charges and are working hard to prove their innocence.

GO DEEPER

The Briefing: Arsenal and Liverpool must show title race isn’t over, it’s only two points

(Top photos: Getty Images)

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Sports

ESPN needs a LeBron James-sized reboot to its NBA Finals coverage

Published

4 hours ago

June 13, 2024

Press Room

ESPN needs a LeBron James-sized reboot to its NBA Finals coverage

When ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro wanted to glam up “Monday Night Football,” he reached for the stars and Mickey Mouse’s wallet. Pitaro, a die-hard New York Yankees fan, channeled his inner George Steinbrenner by signing NFL TV’s white whale, Peyton Manning, and then luring Joe Buck and Troy Aikman over from Fox Sports.

They were boss moves for the Disney-owned ESPN.

Pitaro lavished Buck with a $75 million deal and Aikman with $90 million, both over five seasons, while Manning, with his Omaha Productions and his brother Eli in the fold, is making even more per year than either, though the exact figures are unknown. This offseason, Omaha called another audible by adding the legendary Bill Belichick to this fall’s MNF “ManningCast.”

The luster has been returned to “Monday Night Football” production.

Now, on the NBA Finals, Pitaro should tear a page out of his NFL playbook. He and his right-hand man, Burke Magnus, ESPN’s president of content, should court LeBron James with a Tom Brady-like broadcasting deal that will begin whenever the 39-year-old James decides to hang up his sneakers.

James’ basketball IQ is off the charts. Like Brady — who begins in the Fox NFL booth in September on a 10-year, $375 million deal — there is no definitive way of telling how good James would be on games, but part of the point is to turn the broadcasts into events.

James would do that, standing next to play-by-play broadcaster Mike Breen. They should make it so he calls 20-25 games per season, like an NFL analyst, and elevate the broadcast level, especially this time of year, on the finals.

If Pitaro can’t have James, he should keep 36-year-old Stephen Curry in mind for when he is ready to stop draining 3s. In the meantime, of course, if TNT Sports does lose its NBA TV package, Charles Barkley should — and will be — at the top of ESPN’s list.

All this is to say, it is time for an ESPN NBA reboot because its finals coverage of the Boston Celtics against the Dallas Mavericks feels small.

For the first two games, ESPN added the New York Knicks’ Josh Hart as a guest analyst. Hart is someone to admire, with his work ethic and his good-guy reputation, but, as the kids like to say, it felt very mid.

If ESPN wanted to add another body for its half-hour pregame and its blink-of-an-eye halftime show, it should have rewarded analysts who got them there, like big personalities Kendrick Perkins or Richard Jefferson. Both are way better daily on “NBA Today” than the neophyte Hart showed in his guest spots. At least Hart added another NBA player voice to the finals festivities.

Before he was added, ESPN’s finals coverage included 15-year 3-point specialist JJ Redick as the only ex-player. Redick joined Doris Burke and Breen in the consistently underwhelming finals booth.

In studio, without Hart, there are no former players, as host Malika Andrews is joined by legendary opinionist Michael Wilbon, ex-Golden State general manager Bob Myers, and the face of ESPN, Stephen A. Smith. Well, when Smith has the time.

After Game 2 on ABC, ESPN had a postgame show, but Smith wasn’t on it. He was already jetting off from Boston to Miami to be in position for “First Take,” even though the program regularly emits from New York.

Smith is the undisputed No. 1 star of the network, but it is the games that make it run. Smith said earlier in the playoffs he hoped for a quick Eastern Conference finals so he could take some time off.

Smith is a workaholic and the center of sports media, but if appearing on the playoff studio shows is beneath his time, maybe, quite frankly, it is not the best fit to have him jam it in between his daily TV talk debates, his thrice-weekly YouTube show, his “General Hospital” role and every other platform known to mankind he appears on.

As the series moves to Dallas on Wednesday, nine-time All-Star Paul George is an upgrade in status over Hart as the guest analyst. Whether he is any good remains to be seen. During the conference finals, Chris Paul was the guest analyst, and he showed some signs of potential.

When the new TV deals are completed, ESPN is expected to have the rights to the finals for a dozen years, with its final season on the current contract and the next 11 on the new one. It has boxed out the competition with a deal that will pay the league $2.6 billion a year, just a shade less than the $2.7 billion it doles out to the NFL per season. It looks like a smart move, as TNT Sports hangs on for dear life for its NBA future.

ESPN’s NBA Finals booth: JJ Redick, Doris Burke and Mike Breen. The trio has yet to find its stride in its debut NBA Finals. (Barry Gossage / NBAE via Getty Images)

Amazon Prime Video, which has a framework agreement with the league, already has Ian Eagle on its radar for play-by-play, according to sources briefed on their plans, and NBC, which also is on the doorstep of a completed deal, will likely name Mike Tirico its No. 1. Those are strong starts to match Breen.

Though the iconic “Inside the NBA” is potentially entering its final season with Warner Bros. Discovery, it is not like Barkley or Shaquille O’Neal won’t be employed, maybe even still with Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson. Amazon and NBC will be in play for the biggest names.

Beyond all this, ESPN should take a cue from other networks’ coverage of the Super Bowl and the World Series. The ESPN executive in charge of the NBA, David Roberts, should order up a new graphic package for the finals to further distinguish it from a game in November. The network with the Super Bowl does this every year, though it is actually even more necessary for ESPN on the NBA because of its overabundance of games that can make them all blend together.

Roberts should also look at Fox’s MLB October studio coverage, which features Derek Jeter, David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez. It is a prestige event, and Fox has brought in three of the biggest players of the last generation. You don’t have to do this, but if you fail to have the names, the content has to be superior. It hasn’t been on these finals.

Next, ESPN should be pursuing James, as it did Manning. And Barkley, as it did Buck and Aikman. Pitaro and company should play like the boss again.

GO DEEPER

Where will Charles Barkley go? What if ESPN loses JJ Redick? Thoughts on NBA media issues

(Top photo: Adam Pantozzi / NBAE via Getty Images)

Sports

Colts' Anthony Richardson explains why he thinks NFL is 'easier' than college football

Published

4 hours ago

June 13, 2024

Press Room

Colts' Anthony Richardson explains why he thinks NFL is 'easier' than college football

Anthony Richardson may have gotten the Indianapolis Colts to the playoffs last season if it was not for an injury that kept him out for most of the season.

Richardson had three touchdown passes and only one interception in four games. Indianapolis was 2-2 before Gardner Minshew II was thrown into the fire and guided the team to a 9-8 record. However, it was Houston Texans rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud who took over the division on his way to winning the Offensive Rookie of the Year award and winning a playoff game.

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson spins a football during an NFL football practice at the team’s headquarters on Thursday, June 6, 2024 in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

For Richardson, however, he believes the NFL is “easier” than playing in college. Richardson was the starting quarterback at Florida for one full season before turning pro.

“In college, you got players that are good, they know they’re good, but they’re not as confident,” Richardson said on the “Club 520 Podcast.” “They’ve got to rely on other players to do this for them to do that.

“But in the league, everybody is trying to work to stay in the league and try to keep their job. So, everybody is trying to ball out. That just let me know I ain’t gotta do too much. I’m going to do my job and he’s going to do his job, and it’s going to work.”

DREW BLEDSOE JOKES TOM BRADY WAS ‘WORST BACKUP QUARTERBACK’ IN NFL HISTORY

Scrutiny over Richardson’s job will likely get louder. Colts fans will hope that he can play more than four games this season and help put the team back on top of the division.

Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor and quarterback Anthony Richardson slap hands during an NFL football practice at the team’s headquarters on Thursday, June 6, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Last week, Indianapolis rested Richardson on the final day of minicamp with soreness in his throwing shoulder.

“Rest assured, if we played Sunday, he’d be starting,” Colts head coach Shane Steichen said last week. “He just had some soreness. He experienced some soreness during practice (Wednesday), so we just held him out. It’s just part of the deal.”

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson throws during NFL football practice at the team’s headquarters on Wednesday, June 5, 2024 in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

The Colts have Joe Flacco, Sam Ehlinger and undrafted rookie Kedon Clovis on the roster.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.

Sports

JJ Redick set to formally interview with Lakers this weekend for head coaching job

Published

5 hours ago

June 13, 2024

Press Room

JJ Redick set to formally interview with Lakers this weekend for head coaching job

The Lakers are set to formally interview JJ Redick for their head coaching position this weekend, according to people with knowledge of the plans but not authorized to speak publicly.

Redick, who turns 40 later this month, is currently broadcasting the NBA Finals.

He was long believed to be the favorite to land the Lakers’ job following Darvin Ham’s firing after the Lakers were eliminated by Denver for the second-straight postseason. But the Lakers offered the position to UConn head coach Dan Hurley this past weekend, only for Hurley to reject the six-year, $70-million offer earlier this week.

Redick and former Charlotte head coach James Borrego had been the candidates to garner the most internal attention prior to Hurley’s emergence. Borrego, who has already interviewed with the Lakers, is considered a strong option for Cleveland’s head coach opening.

In Redick, the Lakers would be betting on a former player and current broadcaster with no coaching experience beyond his son’s youth basketball team. Still, he is regarded as having a bright basketball mind, along with experience playing at the highest levels in college and the NBA.

Redick co-hosts a strategy-based podcast with LeBron James, though James has repeatedly distanced himself from the Lakers’ coaching search.