Sport

Sport News 24/7 By Danny Norman @TLE_Sport @dannynormanCOYS New boys Western Sydney Wanderers face Champions League destiny The idea of forming a brand new football team in the modern era is accompanied by a cynical feeling that a big motivating factor is money, and the desire of wealthy individuals and corporations to muscle in on global economic juggernaut that ‘the beautiful game’ has become.  Whether it’s MK Dons or New York City (or is it New York City Manchester City,...

Sport News 24/7 By Richard de Winter  @TLE_Sport @rgdewinter The football fan is a fickle beast.  Their opinions on players fluctuate from one extreme to another, often during the same game.  It is perfectly acceptable to call for a player’s substitution and immediate expulsion from the first-team picture and praise him to the heavens within the same rant.  But then again, behaviour at football grounds doesn’t follow the accepted social norms.  Logical arguments are unnecessary, talking to a stranger is...

Sport News 24/7 Jim Mackney @JimMackney @TLE_Sport Before kick-off you could have forgiven Saints fans for being a little nervous about this evening’s League Cup 4th round tie against Stoke.  After all, for all of the pretty football Saints play could they do it on a cold and windy Wednesday night in Stoke?  Judging by their first half performance the answer is unequivocally yes. The game opened with a lively start by both teams with possession being won and lost...

Sport News 24/7 By David de Winter – Sports Editor @davidjdewinter @TLE_Sport When Mauricio Pochettino was poached from Southampton to become the new manager of Tottenham Hotspur, there were coos of appreciation from all sides.  After guiding a very talented and aesthetically pleasing Saints side to 8th in the Premier League last season, the general consensus was that the Argentinian would finally get Spurs playing in their traditional swashbuckling style à la the great Bill Nicholson, Terry Venables and, to...

Sport News 24/7 By Jim Mackney @JimMackney @TLE_Sport It was the 18th of October 2014.  There was a bubbling sense of excitement, the smell of hotdogs and flat Carlsberg filled the air along with the sound of a few thousand shuffling feet; the customary swell of noise as the players emerged from the tunnel... This could have been any football stadium in any part of the country at 2:58pm but at St Mary's you could have cut the tension with...

By Jots du Jardin @jotsdujardin @TLE_Sport Stuart Lancaster's squad selection is an admission that he'd be happy to only reach the quarter finals in next year's World Cup. It's the type of squad he believes he'll need to beat Australia and Wales in 2015, not South Africa, New Zealand and the Wallabies this Autumn. In his press conference after announcing his squad, Lancaster was uncompromising in his message: “To be the best it’s not about the flash stuff,” he said....

Sport News 24/7 By David de Winter – Sports Editor @davidjdewinter @TLE_Sport When Liverpool signed Mario Balotelli a few days before the close of the transfer window, plenty of eyebrows were raised.  Not another troublemaker?  How will he fit into the club’s playing style?  Can he fill the sizeable shoes of Luis Suarez? At the time I was slightly puzzled as to why Brendan Rodgers had splashed the cash on the Italian.  Given that without Suarez, Liverpool were always going...

Sport News 24/7 By Adam Clark @AdamClarkers @TLE_Sport For a brief moment at the start of this season Aston Villa soared improbably and gloriously into third place. But the Premier League is a harsh mistress, especially when you play Ciaran Clark at centre-back. 4 losses, 11 goals conceded and 0 goals scored. Like Icarus, Villa flew too close to the sun and are now paying the price. Those in claret and blue will feel a strange sense of being punished...

Sport News 24/7 By Rob Latham @robilaz @TLE_Sport Rooted to the bottom of the Championship. One league win from ten. Only eight league goals scored. It was clear something had to change at Bolton Wanderers. The hierarchy eventually listened to calls from their supporters and parted way with Dougie Freedman following an abject 4-0 defeat at fellow strugglers Fulham just before the international break. And in the Scot’s place came Northern Irish manager Neil Lennon. Lennon has immediately breathed life...