Key events
It’s Ballon D’Or, Ballon D’Or, Ballon D’Or, Ballon D’Or week, and Stanley Matthews week, too. Two wizards of the dribble in Ed Aarons and Jonathan Wilson on Sir Stan’s legacy.
The switch of venue to England from its usual home in Paris is a mark of respect to the man who became the first active player to receive a knighthood in 1965, a few months before retiring at the age of 50. It also provides an opportunity to recall an astonishing career that began with his local side Stoke in 1932 and made the “Wizard of Dribble” the most famous player on the planet.
Still, the choice of Stanley Matthews, from today’s perspective, looks odd. While it is true Blackpool had finished second in the First Division in 1956, but they were 11 points behind Manchester United and had gone out of the FA Cup in the third round. Was there not a case for Duncan Edwards or Tommy Taylor? Or for Bert Trautmann, the goalkeeper who won the Football Writers’ player of the year in 1956 after playing on with a broken neck in the final as Manchester City lifted the Cup?
Ben Bloom took in a trip to Swindon.
This time last week, there was a thought that Saturday’s M4 derby homecoming trip to Bristol Rovers might hasten a possible end to Holloway’s Swindon tenure. Winless in eight games in all competitions, the discontent was not expected to abate on the preceding midweek trip to high-flying Barnet. The 3-1 victory that followed – Barnet’s first league defeat of the season – was a huge shock, thanks in no small part to the heroics of the goalkeeper, Connor Ripley, who recently declared the whole squad would “run through a brick wall” for Holloway.
Saturday’s Premier League action, all our reports collected here.
‘No, no’: Carrick denies Manchester United are unmanageable
When Michael Carrick was asked if he can trust the players to deliver against Bournemouth at Old Trafford given the last week, under-pressure Carrick said: “I definitely trust them, yeah, 100 per cent I trust them. It wasn’t a very good night at all for so many reasons. We all know that. I think that’s pretty obvious. I definitely trust them, yeah. I trust them. We’ll be a different team on Sunday. We have to be a different team on Sunday.”
Asked if he felt that the team and club are unmanageable, as some have suggested, Carrick retorted: “No, no”.
He then spoke of his relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson and Ole Gunnar Solskjær, for whom he was key player and assistant coach. “I speak to both of them quite regularly, to be honest. There’s nothing in particular from that. I’m close to both of them and we do have regular conversations, so it’s nothing different this week.”
On Bruno Fernandes: “I think you’ve got to be careful with just saying ‘not running’,” he said. “As I said, we’ve won a lot of games over a period of time and this pressing thing, that suddenly everyone thinks about pressing.
“Pressing is one small part of football. There’s all sorts of different ways of what people are classed as a press. What actually is it? What you’re doing it for? Is it to your strength? Is it covering up other spaces? It’s just thrown about as a bit of a word at the minute of pressing.
“You don’t necessarily need to press to win games of football. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t.”
So then, Manchester United. Jamie Jackson considers the possible options for Michael Carrick.
Fernandes’s open questioning of the tactics is a challenge to the head coach’s authority and we wait to see how/if Carrick will face it down. If Carrick acts and proves he is not a lame duck then even if he is removed a favour is done for his successor.
Preamble
Good morning football, here for our Sunday service, on a busy day of action in the Premier League. A huge afternoon for Michael Carrick as Bournemouth travel to Manchester United.
Crystal Palace v Newcastle, 2pm
Hull v Brentford, 2pm
Liverpool v Brighton, 2pm
Manchester United v Bournemouth, 2pm
Sunderland v Leeds, 4.30pm
Later tonight, at 8pm, it’s Barcelona v Real Madrid
In the meantime, here is Barney Ronay’s column on … a resurgent Spurs side from Stamford Bridge.
