LONDON: There is a strand of Manchester United fan, those in thrall to the cult of Jose Mourinho, that insists that the situation he inherited at Old Trafford was much worse than the squad Pep Guardiola took over at the Etihad.
It is a slightly mystifying claim given the widespread perception at the time that City were aging while United had a scattering of extremely exciting emerging young talent. But what has given that notion legs has been the shambolic nature of United’s spending. And that has added edge to the unease between Mourinho and Paul Pogba.
City have made mistakes with their spending. Nolito did not work out. Danilo has struggled. Claudio Bravo was awful. But, for the most part, their signings have thrived. It is true that roughly €400 million ($491 million) has been spent net, but City have got full value for that spending. Most of those they have brought in have been young and upcoming, not unknowns by any means, but players still climbing toward a peak.
That cannot be said of United since Sir Alex Ferguson left, with new parts constantly being bolted on with very little sign of advance thought of cohesive planning. And most troubling is that the two most expensive signings, Romelu Lukaku and Paul Pogba, have both to some extent failed.
Lukaku has scored 22 goals for United in all competitions but none of those have come against other members of the big six. He did score against Real Madrid in the European Super Cup, but nothing he has yet done at Old Trafford has done anything to allay the fears that he is not quite at the elite level to make a difference in big games. What was striking at Sevilla on Wednesday as that Alex Sanchez cross came to him in the first half was how, even though the ball was on his preferred foot, it never seemed plausible that he might score.
Pogba, meanwhile, has managed eight goals and 13 assists in 45 Premier League starts since joining in the summer of 2016 which, on the face of it, sounds good. But the problem is the disruption he causes. In the 4-2-3-1 Mourinho seems these days to favor, Pogba is neither disciplined enough to play in one of the deeper positions — a point Mourinho made forcibly to him on the touchline in the defeats against both Tottenham and Newcastle — nor technically good enough with his back to goal to play behind a striker.
He is a rampaging, surging presence, a player to thrill the heart when he takes hold of a game, but an anachronism in the modern game as a box-to-box player in an era that has essentially separated midfield into two distinct bands.
Perhaps the most troubling evidence of his misfit status came at Arsenal when his red card paradoxically seemed to make United more secure in their lead as they could retreat into their bunker without anybody leading heroic charges at the opposition.
In that sense, the player he is most reminiscent of is Steven Gerrard, whom Rafa Benitez ended up playing wide or as the most creative of three central midfielders at Liverpool. Mourinho’s switch to a 4-3-3 in Seville, but with Pogba on the bench, seemed a point being calculatedly made. Yet when Pogba did come on, after Ander Herrera had suffered a hamstring injury after 16 minutes, his impact was minimal — as it had been on the left of a 4-3-3 at Basel in the group stage.
Mourinho’s frustration with Pogba is understandable, but his decision to take him on is intriguing. When he described Scott McTominay earlier this week as having “a normal haircut, no tattoos, no big cars, no big watches ... ” it was pretty obvious whom he was really talking about.
With his extended contract now signed, Mourinho presumably feels emboldened, able to take radical action to try to shape the squad as he wants. But we have seen this political game-playing before, most notably at Real Madrid when he ousted the sporting director Jorge Valdano and then ostracized the goalkeeper and captain Iker Casillas.
Then it was the beginning of the end for Mourinho at the club. With Chelsea visiting Old Trafford today these are dangerous games he is playing.
Jose Mourinho playing dangerous games at a testing time for Manchester United
Jose Mourinho playing dangerous games at a testing time for Manchester United
Phil Foden to fore as Man City thrash Brighton 4-0 to stay on course for another Premier League title
- It’s 16 goals for the campaign and 24 in 48 games in all club competitions this season for Foden, who delivered another clinical display in front of England coach Gareth Southgate
- City have five games remaining — one more than Arsenal and Liverpool — and, on current form, are showing no sign of slipping up in the final stretch
BRIGHTON, England: Manchester City chalked up another big win in their pursuit of an unprecedented fourth straight Premier League title, with Phil Foden continuing his career-best scoring season with two goals in a 4-0 thrashing of Brighton on Thursday.
Foden’s first-half double came between goals by Kevin De Bruyne and Julian Alvarez as City extended their unbeaten run in the league to 18 games and trimmed the gap to leader Arsenal to one point. Liverpool are two points further back in third after their title chances were damaged by a 2-0 loss at Everton on Wednesday.
City have five games remaining — one more than Arsenal and Liverpool — and, on current form, are showing no sign of slipping up in the final stretch that still contains trips to Nottingham Forest, Fulham and Tottenham as well as home matches against Wolverhampton and West Ham.
Win all five of those games and City are the champion again. No team have ever won four successive top-flight titles in the history of English soccer.
“I trust my team,” De Bruyne said. “All respect to Arsenal and Liverpool, they are amazing ... but we need to do our job.
“We just need to keep going, not get ahead of ourselves, be humble and work hard.”
Since a 0-0 draw with Arsenal at home on March 31, City have won four straight league games and scored 17 goals in the process.
Pep Guardiola’s team kept up that hot streak without the injured Erling Haaland — the league’s joint-top scorer with 20 goals — and that allowed Foden to potentially join the race for the Golden Boot.
It’s 16 goals for the campaign and 24 in 48 games in all club competitions this season for Foden, who delivered another clinical display in front of England coach Gareth Southgate at Amex Stadium — seven weeks out from the start of the European Championship.
“This year I’ve moved inside and it’s helped my game massively,” Foden said of a positional tweak that sees him often play centrally rather out on the wing. “I feel I can get a lot of goals there.”
De Bruyne scored his first-ever headed goal in the Premier League when he met Kyle Walker’s right-wing cross to give City the lead in the 17th and Foden made it 2-0 in the 26th when his shot from a free kick deflected in off the back of Brighton midfielder Pascal Gross.
Foden added a third in the 34th by curling home a low finish from just inside the area after Brighton lost possession attempting to play out from the back.
Alvarez, starting up front in place of Haaland, slotted in for 4-0 in the 62nd after Walker was given space to roam down the right wing and cut inside before sliding in to challenge goalkeeper Jason Steele and get the ball across to the Argentina striker.
The Premier League is the only one of Europe’s top five leagues where the title race is still realistically up for grabs. Bayer Leverkusen have won the German league, Inter Milan have clinched the Italian title, while Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain have 11-point leads in Spain and France, respectively.
“Many things can happen,” Guardiola said about the title race. “What happened with Liverpool (losing recently) against Crystal Palace and Everton can happen to us. It can happen to Arsenal. No one is safe.”
Brazil’s Romario returns to training at age 58, scores twice and keeps sharp tongue
- Romario: My biggest goal here is to have the chance to play with my son
- America will play their first league match on May 18. Romario became its president in 2023, aiming to get the club back in the state’s first division
SAO PAULO: Brazilian soccer hero Romario returned to training on Thursday at age 58, almost two decades after he retired from the sport, and needed just a few minutes to show he remains a prolific scorer.
The 1994 World Cup winner turned politician netted two goals as he practiced with much younger players at struggling Rio de Janeiro club America, of which he is the president.
America will play in Rio state’s second division championship this year. Romarinho, one of the sons of the former Barcelona star, is in its squad.
“My biggest goal here is to have the chance to play with my son,” an exhausted Romario told journalists after the training. “Many athletes have that objective. LeBron James wants to play with his son next year (in the NBA). Rivaldo also had that chance. I want that too.”
Also famous for his sharp tongue, which has Pele, Zico and Mario Zagallo among its victims, Romario chose himself as a target this time.
“I am very tired. I will soon need a stretcher to pick me up,” he said. “For a man who has not trained for 16 years, in general, I managed to run a little. But I want to make one thing very clear — I will not play the entire championship. My idea is to play for a few minutes in some matches. What matters the most in this competition is America.”
America will play their first league match on May 18. Romario became its president in 2023, aiming to get the club back in the state’s first division with local giants Flamengo, Fluminense, Vasco da Gama and Botafogo.
Both goals Romario scored came in a reduced pitch section of the practice, both in his old style; sharp finishes from close range in the penalty box.
Famously not a fan of penalty kicks, Romario has apparently changed his mind for his return to the sport.
“If there is a penalty, our club president will ask to take it,” Romario jokingly said. “If the coach says no, he will be fired and the club president will take the penalty anyway.”
Indonesia and Japan advance at U23 Asian Cup. South Korea out of contention for Paris Olympics
- Indonesia reached the last four by winning the shootout 11-10 against South Korea after the score remained tied 2-2 through extra time
- Japan knocked out hosts Qatar 4-2 after extra time to stay on course for an eighth straight Olympic appearance
- On Friday, defending champions Saudi Arabia face Uzbekistan, while Iraq meet Vietnam
DOHA: South Korea will miss the men’s soccer tournament at the Olympics for the first time since 1984 after losing a penalty shootout to Indonesia at the Under-23 Asian Cup quarterfinals on Thursday.
The top three teams will qualify for the Paris Games, and Indonesia reached the last four by winning the shootout 11-10 after the score remained tied 2-2 through extra time.
Rafael Struick put Indonesia ahead after 15 minutes only for Komang Teguh’s own goal to level the scoreline after 45 minutes. There was still time before the break, however, for Struick to score again.
Jeong Sang-bin equalized with 14 minutes remaining despite Korea being reduced to 10 men minutes earlier when Lee Young-jun was shown a red card.
Lee Kang-hee missed in the shootout, leaving Pratama Arhan to score the winner.
Earlier, Japan knocked out hosts Qatar 4-2 after extra time to stay on course for an eighth straight Olympic appearance.
Fuki Yamada scored early for Japan but Ahmed Al-Rawi and Jassem Gaber netted to put Qatar ahead.
Seiji Kimura made it 2-2 midway through the second half and after the tie went into extra-time, Mao Hosoya put Japan ahead once more and Kotaro Uchino scored after 113 minutes to secure the win for Japan.
On Friday, defending champions Saudi Arabia face Uzbekistan, while Iraq meet Vietnam.
The team that finish fourth will face Guinea in a playoff in May with a place in Paris at stake.
Joel Embiid scores 50 points to lead 76ers past Knicks 125-114 to cut deficit to 2-1
PHILADELPHIA: Joel Embiid scored 50 points, making all four 3-point attempts and scoring 18 in a potential series-shifting third quarter on Thursday night to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a 125-114 win over the New York Knicks in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.
Embiid boldly stated “we’re going to win this series” after the 76ers dropped Game 2.
With one of the finest postseason efforts of his career, Embiid became the third player to ever score 50 points against the Knicks in the postseason and kept the hope of a Philadelphia series comeback very much alive.
The Knicks lead the series 2-1. Game 4 is Sunday in Philadelphia.
Embiid was 13 of 19 from the floor overall, made 19 of 21 free throws and hit five 3-pointers.
Last season’s NBA MVP, Embiid finally turned the crowd — which had a distinct New York flavor in South Philly --- into one rocking for the home team. The All-Star center played more like a sharpshooting guard in the third, when he saved the season.
The Sixers pecked away at a three-point halftime deficit when Embiid got hot. He hit one 3 and then two more — — the last two with assists from Tyrese Maxey — that gave the Sixers an 82-72 lead. His fourth 3 pushed the lead to 98-85.
Not bad for a career 34 percent 3-point shooter.
Maxey added two 3s in the quarter and the 76ers went a whopping 9 of 12 from beyond the arc for 43 points.
After getting punished in New York, the Sixers pushed back.
Embiid’s bulky left knee brace helped sturdy the 7-footer after dealing with injuries all season. He mostly kept his cool and was in the mix on both ends of the court all game. Embiid had 17 points, three fouls and he even grabbed Mitchell Robinson and dragged him to the court in a first half where they again weren’t good enough to look like a team that could beat the Knicks.
The Knicks won the first two games in New York, highlighted by Donte DiVincenzo’s go-ahead 3-pointer with 13 seconds left in Game 2. Against the backdrop of two Villanova national championship banners they helped the program win, the trio of former Wildcats were largely stifled in Game 3.
Jalen Brunson did lead the Knicks with 39 points and 13 assists. Josh Hart — whose spectacular 3-point shooting in New York was an unexpected bonus for the Knicks — scored 20 points but DiVincenzo had five.
They must felt at home inside a Sixers’ arena that sounded more like Madison Square Garden as chants of “Let’s Go Knicks!’ echoed throughout the arena for a chunk of the game. John Starks wildly cheered them on from his courtside.
The Sixers countered with Allen Iverson.
But nostalgia didn’t matter much between two teams that played each other in a postseason series for the first time since 1989.
This one could be shaping up as one to remember.
Embiid was serenaded with “MVP! MVP!” chants as he stretched the lead from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter.
“Joel Embiid has been banned from the Empire State Building,” was posted on the skyscraper’s social media account.
Maxey finished with 25 points. Kelly Oubre Jr. had 15 points and showed no lingering effects following his reported involvement in a car crash after Game 2.
Game 3 was played without any significant disputes with the officiating after the NBA said the referees missed several late calls in Game 2.
Man City crush Brighton to close gap on Arsenal in title race
- Guardiola: “It is a good result for us, really good”
Pep Guardiola’s side were in imperious mood at the Amex Stadium from the moment Kevin De Bruyne headed them into an early lead.
England forward Foden struck twice before the interval to put the result beyond doubt.
Julian Alvarez ended his goal drought after half-time to ensure injured striker Erling Haaland wasn’t missed as his absence with a muscle problem stretched to a second successive game.
“It is a good result for us, really good,” Guardiola said. “I said before, what we have done in the past, it does not mean we will do it in the future.
“We know the margins are so tight. We have to win every one. Each game we are closer.”
Liverpool’s surprise defeat at Everton on Wednesday was a welcome boost for City in the title race after Arsenal had thrashed Chelsea 5-0 on Tuesday.
And City’s stroll on the south coast kept the destiny of the title in their hands.
Guardiola’s team, who have a game in hand on both Arsenal and third-placed Liverpool, will be crowned champions for an unprecedented fourth successive season if they win their last five matches.
With at least four goals in each of their last four league games, City are rounding into form at just the right moment once again.
But Guardiola warned: “What happened to Liverpool, two defeats in a row, it can happen to Arsenal, it can happen to us.
“What is important is that still we are there. There are a lot of games to play.”
Next up for City, who are unbeaten in 18 league games, is a trip to Nottingham Forest on Sunday, while Arsenal head to Tottenham just hours earlier.
Guardiola has bemoaned the “unacceptable” fixture schedule that he believes puts his players’ health at risk, blaming the pile-up for their sluggish performance in Saturday’s 1-0 win against Chelsea in the FA Cup semifinals.
While City searched for the energy to propel them a step closer to the title, Brighton couldn’t have been any fresher as they played for the first time in 12 days.
But there was no sign of any weariness from the champions as they took the lead with a typically eye-catching move in the 17th minute.
Foden took possession 30 yards from goal and drifted toward the right flank, where his astute pass found Kyle Walker’s run.
Walker floated a pin-point cross into the area and De Bruyne timed his run perfectly as the Belgian’s diving header lifted the ball over Brighton keeper Jason Steele into the roof of the net.
De Bruyne’s fourth goal in his last five games marked the first time the midfielder had scored with his head in his Premier League career.
In a rare moment of concern for the City defense, Brighton nearly snatched an immediate equalizer, but Lewis Dunk’s header was too close to Ederson.
Guardiola’s men doubled their lead in the 26th minute thanks to a stroke of luck when Foden won a dubious free-kick.
Foden didn’t waste the opportunity, unleashing a powerful shot that took a wicked deflection off Pascal Gross as it flashed past the wrong-footed Steele.
The England forward’s 23rd goal in all competitions this season was followed by his 24th eight minutes later.
City’s relentless pressing panicked Brighton’s Valentin Barco into surrendering possession to Bernardo Silva and Foden seized on the loose ball, driving a clinical finish into the far corner from 12 yards.
Alvarez had scored once in his previous 16 games and Haaland’s replacement ended that barren run with his first league goal since January in the 62nd minute.
Walker lost control of the ball after breaking into the area, but his lunging tackle stopped Steele collecting it and Alvarez pounced to slot home from close range.
