Premier League winners and losers

Winners

Harry Kane
The last English player to score multiple hat-tricks in the same Premier League season was Wayne Rooney in 2011/12; Kane has two in his last six weeks, and scored another against Fulham in the FA Cup in between. When he’s hot, he’s very, very hot.

For all the doubts about Kane’s performances – and corner-taking – for England during Euro 2016, this is no longer a striker in a rich vein of form at the start of his career but a reliably prolific Premier League goalscorer. Since November 2014, Kane has 65 goals in just 88 league games, and he has done so __with precious little rest or back-up. That’s 11 more than his nearest rival.

Tottenham’s second chancers
Tottenham had let their manager down again. To fail to beat Gent – currently seventh in Belgium’s First Division A – in the first leg was disappointing, but to concede two sloppy goals and lose their discipline at Wembley in the second leg was unacceptable. If Thursday was the chance to remove the Wembley ‘hoodoo’, Spurs only allowed a few more skeletons to climb into the closets.

In those circumstances, a manager is given two alternatives. He can ring the changes, hoping that freshness brings improvement and a shift in impetus; Mauricio Pochettino could have reasonably picked Heung-min Son and Harry Winks, both of whom impressed as second-half substitutes in midweek.

Or a manager can stick __with the same plan and demand proof from those under-performing players that Thursday was the exception rather than the worrying new rule.

Pochettino chose the latter option. It helps to have a willingly weak opponent when trying to get back to your feet, but Tottenham deserve credit for their response to Europa League exit. Twenty-one shots, 19 chances created and the opportunity to play the last half-hour at 60%. For at least six days, Tottenham are Chelsea’s closest challenger.

Cesc Fabregas
It is hardly controversial to say that few saw Fabregas as the ideal reserve player. His exit from Arsenal and eventual departure from Barcelona helped to create an image of a footballer who flourishes best when spoilt, or at least accommodated. Build a central midfield around the Spaniard and he will reward you, but fail to do so and it will not be long before he leaves.

Perhaps it is evidence of a player who has done a great deal of growing up since joining (or even leaving) Barcelona, or maybe we just had a warped image of his personality. Fabregas has been forced out of Antonio Conte’s first-team plans this season, yet he remains crucial to Chelsea’s title challenge.

When called on, Fabregas has been sensational. Three goals and seven assists in 639 minutes might be an unsustainable ratio, but it only confirms exactly what we know about his ability to create chances and make a forward-thinking midfield tick. Only two Chelsea players have created more chances despite Fabregas starting only six league games.

Against Swansea on Saturday, he was magnificent. Do not underestimate how difficult it is to infrequently step into a team and system performing at a high level and start at sprinting speed. More shots, shots on target and chances created than any other Chelsea player, just like that.

Fabregas now has 55 league assists since the beginning of 2012/13. That is five more than Mesut Ozil over the same time period in 98 extra league minutes. And Fabregas has one extra goal, too. The dream move back to Barcelona might not quite have worked out as planned, but he is now heading for his third league title in five seasons.

Christian Eriksen
Seven chances created, the highest of any player this weekend. Too often the focus seems to be on what Eriksen doesn’t or can’t do rather than on what he can and regularly does. Nobody has created more chances in the Premier League this season.

Sam Allardyce
There would surely be no football manager who would prefer a 1-0 to a 4-0 victory, but if any individual was to take option A, it would be Allardyce. He didn’t want style, panache or free-flowing football, he wanted a win; a grubby 1-0 win.

If that’s what a fortnight with Big Sam does, you can see why owners of Premier League clubs have fallen over themselves to appoint him. After the 4-0 humping from Sunderland on this ground, Allardyce had all the evidence he needed: We tried it your way, now we’re trying it mine.

Palace had just 39.6% possession, no shots on target and completed only 145 passes during a second half in which Middlesbrough were invited to try and blow down the house following Patrick van Aanholt’s scrappy opening goal. Where Sunderland found straw earlier this month, Middlesbrough found bricks. If the bricks stay in place, so too might Crystal Palace in the Premier League.

Palace supporters will be wary of false dawns after seeing their side immediately fall back into disarray after forward steps under Allardyce and his predecessor, but there is no doubt that this was a performance plucked straight out of their new manager’s manual. While Wilfried Zaha, Yohan Cabaye and Andros Townsend might not consider themselves ideal fits for such spit and sawdust, it is exactly what the club needs right now.

Mamadou Sakho
Our early winner, for a debut that went better than anyone could have expected.

Ronald Koeman
Premier League points per game in 2017:
Everton – 2.43
Manchester City – 2.17
Tottenham – 2.13
Chelsea – 2.00
Manchester United – 2.00
West Brom – 2.00

From a position of undue pressure at the end of last year, Koeman has manufactured a run of six wins and three draws from their last nine league matches. Now he’s the second favourite to get the Barcelona job in the summer.

West Brom, the comeback kings
Between the beginning of the season and Boxing Day, West Brom gained only one league point from losing positions and dropped nine from winning positions. Since then, they have gained ten points from losing positions and dropped only two when leading. It’s the kind of change that shifts the entire mood of a season.

Diego Costa
Over his mini-drought in the Premier League, it was revealed this weekend that Chelsea turned down a world-record bid for Costa in January. That’s a pretty effective way of making you feel valued by your club and manager.

Patrick van Aanholt
Eight league goals since the start of last season. Crystal Palace didn’t just buy a left-back, but a goalscorer.

Burnley
A point away from home. A bloody point!

Losers

Aitor Karanka
The bottom six teams in the Premier League, in reverse order: Changed manager in July, changed manager in August and January, changed manager in February, changed manager in December, had manager since November 2013, changed managers in October and December.

Aitor Karanka is the anomaly. Some may rue managerial sackings as evidence of football losing a little more of its soul with each exit, but the financial oasis provided by Premier League participation is directly responsible for these sackings. Parachute payments mean that relegation doesn’t have to result in financial strife, but it certainly makes competitive irrelevance a possibility for those clubs not funded by billionaires. Don’t hate the clubs, hate the game.

If we can offer anger and outrage at those clubs who do choose to sack previously successful managers, we must at least be allowed to examine why a club has chosen to keep faith in a similarly underperforming manager. Karanka is fortunate that Middlesbrough owner Steve Gibson is widely renowned as one of the most patient in the business.

Karanka could not cry foul if he was sacked this week. Middlesbrough have scored twice in their last seven league games, have taken four points from the last 27 available and are sleepwalking their way to relegation. Those who assume that the problems are only short-term would be mistaken. The only teams Middlesbrough have beaten in the league all season currently sit in positions 14, 15, 19 and 20, and no fully professional club in England have won so few games this season. In the Premier League, Middlesbrough rank 20th for goals, 20th for shots, 20th for shots on target and 20th for chances created.

Remember too that Karanka has been allowed to bring in 13 players on permanent deals in the last ten months, and two other first-team players on loan, including Alvaro Negredo’s £100,000-a-week wages. Finally, four of Middlesbrough’s last six matches are against Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool.

Karanka is surely hanging on by a thread purely because Middlesbrough lose games but never get thrashed. They have lost 12 league matches in total this season, but nine of them by a single goal margin and never by more than three. This creates the impression that Karanka and his team are repeatedly unlucky, whereas an alternative theory is that only a slight improvement – under a new manager, perhaps – could see them survive.

Do I want to see managers sacked on an increasingly regular basis? No. Am I surprised that Karanka is still in a job? Oh yes.

Mark Hughes
“We have improved markedly since that game [Stoke’s 4-0 defeat to Tottenham in September]. I would be very surprised if the result was the same.”

You can understand why Hughes might be eager to point out the improvement in his Stoke team, and results as a whole have improved from their difficult start. Yet when your team loses by the same humbling scoreline to the same team three times inside the space of ten months, you should expect questions to be asked.

“We expected more than that,” Hughes said after the latest 4-0 defeat. “At times we were a little bit awestruck maybe. We gave them too much respect and as a consequence they picked us off. We need to get up to speed and understand that wasn’t acceptable.”

Hughes was right to criticise his team’s woefully weak resistance, but repeat the same message three times and it begins to lose all resonance. Demanding more from players who then fail to improve only paints the man in charge in an equally poor light.

Stoke will not be in relegation trouble this season under Hughes, just like they weren’t in trouble the season before or the season before that. But there is nothing quite as demotivating for a football supporter as being ensconced in mid-table and being emphatically reminded that you should know your place. The list of teams that Stoke have beaten in all competitions since the end of 2015: Doncaster, Norwich, Liverpool (then lost on pens), Bournemouth, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Watford, West Ham, Stevenage, Sunderland, Hull, Swansea, Burnley and Crystal Palace.

Eddie Howe
Our early loser. Howe may be one of the game’s eternal optimists, but even he must accept that Bournemouth are getting worse while several of the teams beneath them are improving. The need for a win to stop the rot is becoming desperate.

Bournemouth’s defence and goalkeeper
If this is Bournemouth’s new norm, they will be relegated. Over their last ten league matches, Howe’s team have conceded 2.6 goals per game – the worst record in the Premier League:

Bournemouth – 2.6
Swansea – 2.3
Sunderland – 2.0
Stoke – 1.8
Leicester – 1.78
Southampton – 1.78

The interesting aspect of Bournemouth’s poor defensive record is that they are not facing a huge number of shots on target. In that same time period, Stoke, Hull and Sunderland have all allowed more per game, and West Brom have allowed the same. Similarly, eight different clubs have faced more shots.

Part of the blame therefore lies with Artur Boruc, who has the lowest save percentage of any goalkeeper over the last ten games, exactly 50%. If you get a shot on target against Bournemouth, there’s a quite literal half a chance that it ends in a goal. Against Victor Valdes of Middlesbrough, only two places below Bournemouth in the league, only 20.45% go in.

Yet part of the blame must also lie with a defence that is wholly failing to protect its goalkeeper, for defending is a team sport. Bournemouth are making more errors in positional discipline and marking than they were before, and are probably the worst current culprits in the division.

With that, the buck then gets passed to a manager who has failed to improve that defence despite being given time and funds to invest in his squad. Bournemouth’s seven most defensive players on Sunday shared 213 league starts in their promotion season from the Championship in 2014/15. Their bench contained a goalkeeper, two strikers, two attacking midfielders, a central midfielder and a left-back in Brad Smith who cost £6m and has played 270 minutes in the league this season. The only surprise is that anyone could be surprised by Bournemouth’s defensive issues.

Stoke’s ‘others’
Lee Grant, Phil Bardsley, Charlie Adam, Glenn Whelan, Peter Crouch. Over half of Stoke’s starting XI against Tottenham were over 30 and past their best. There’s only so much Joe Allen can do to give a team some zip.

Hull City
You know the rules: Fail to beat Burnley at home and you don’t deserve nice things.

Daniel Storey

Kante heaps praise on Chelsea target Dembele

N’Golo Kante has talked up the international credentials of reported Chelsea target Moussa Dembele.

Dembele has starred for Celtic so far this season, scoring 29 goals in 42 games since joining the club for just £500,000 from Fulham in the summer.

The Frenchman was a reported target for Premier League leaders Chelsea in the winter transfer window, although the striker denied any claims that he was set to leave Scotland.

Manchester United have emerged as leading contenders for his signature this summer, but Chelsea midfielder Kante wants to see the 20-year-old earn his first international cap __with France.

“If Dembele is called up, it will be fully deserved,” he told Sun Sport. “You do not score the amount of goals that he has scored this season and it goes unnoticed.

“He has been one of the most prolific strikers in Europe this season. He must be playing __with so much confidence and that is always one of the most important things for a striker.

“The coach picks on form. I don’t think the fact he isn’t playing for what people might consider one of the elite European clubs will be held against him.

“The coach gave me a chance when I was at Leicester and Dimitri Payet a chance when he was at West Ham. I do not think that is a worry. He’s scoring a lot of goals and playing well — that’s all that matters.”

Liverpool loanee targeting potential first-team spot

Ryan Kent is hoping to break into Liverpool first-team contention under Jurgen Klopp next season.

Kent has been __with Liverpool since 2003, and made his first-team debut for the club in the FA Cup third round draw __with Exeter last January.

The winger, now 20, impressed on loan at Coventry last season, and is currently enjoying a spell with Championship side Barnsley.

He expects to return to Anfield in the summer and “push forward for the first team”.

“The manager gave me my debut last year when I came back from Coventry and to see him giving out even more debuts this year and putting his trust in young players in big games is pivotal – it inspires you,” he told LFC.TV.

“Not many clubs are giving young players these opportunities, so that’s more inspiration for me to go back to Liverpool in the summer, work hard in pre-season, and push forward for the first team.”

Kent has scored two goals and assisted two in 33 Championship games for Barnsley, and he feels that he has learned from his spell with the side, who are currently in 1oth place.

“I’m really enjoying my time here,” he said. “I’ve fitted into the team really well and I was given a great welcome here.

“It’s very exciting for me and a great experience to be playing in front of big crowds in big stadiums and it’s something I’m really relishing.

“I think it has helped my game playing in front of big crowds because I like to showcase my ability in front of crowds like that.”

Football365’s early winner: Mamadou Sakho

April 20, 2016. Liverpool celebrated one of the most comfortable, comprehensive Merseyside derby victories, having brushed Everton aside in a 4-0 win. Spirits were high.

It was the second time the Kop had been treated to a spectacle in the space of less than a week. Six days prior, they beat Borussia Dortmund 4-3 in one of the most remarkable games in recent memory.

Mamadou Sakho scored in both, plundering headers past Roman Weidenfeller and Joel Robles. A season that promised so much for Liverpool at that stage – a Europa League semi-final was their reward for the Dortmund win – paled in comparison to what Sakho could achieve: he was a certainty to make France’s squad for Euro 2016. The host nation were the favourites to win the tournament.

Before this last Saturday, April 20, 2016 marked Sakho’s most recent first-team game for club or country. A doping ban, overturned two days before France were defeated by Portugal in the final, abruptly ended his dream. He returned to the Liverpool squad in the summer, but he was sent home from their pre-season tour of America due to poor discipline and time-keeping. A rollercoaster that had almost reached the apex had instead crashed to its nadir.

Sakho would never return from Anfield purgatory. Even when Liverpool’s defensive deficiencies were exposed, their most naturally talented centre-half remained on the periphery. He was reluctant to leave, to admit defeat, but Crystal Palace offered a necessary escape route.

The Frenchman might well have been regretting his decision. The loan signing watched on from the bench in his first game, as powerless as his teammates in resisting defeat to Sunderland. He was expected to improve a defence that had just been breached four times by a side below them in the Premier League table.

Wayne Hennessey, Joel Ward, James Tomkins and Patrick van Aanholt all started the Sunderland game, and the quartet did so again as they kept a clean sheet against Middlesbrough. That their improvement came __with the debut of Sakho, the only new member of the back five, was no coincidence.

Palace have looked 100x more solid __with Sakho at centre back today. He's the rock we've needed all season! 👊🏼 #CPFC

— Crystal Palace FC 🦅 (@CpfcNews_) February 25, 2017

Boro do not boast the most threatening of attacks, scoring a league-low 19 goals in 26 games, but Sakho played the most influential part in their failure to breach the Palace defence on Saturday. He made one tackle, one interception and six clearances, marshalling the back four as if it wasn’t his first game in ten months.

But the most impressive aspect of Sakho’s performance was his ball retention. The 27-year-old has long been considered clumsy and mistake-prone, his gangly frame and awkward style doing little to disprove the perception. Yet he recorded a passing accuracy of 92% at Selhurst Park; Palace’s next best player was Andros Townsend, on 80.2%.

His new manager was impressed. “His experience and composure was there and he was very commanding in that position,” said Allardyce after a 1-0 win which moved Palace out of the relegation zone. “I wasn’t sure if he would last the whole game, but he did and we needed him today.”

On this evidence, Palace will need him for the rest of the season. A fight that was looking increasingly difficult to win has swayed back in their favour. Sakho has taken his first step on the path to redemption, and his new club will reap the rewards. One Klopp’s trash is another Sam’s treasure, as they say.

Matt Stead

Man United fans admit they were sh*t but…

Excellent Mailbox, people. Let’s keep this up __with mails to theeditor@football365.com

Winning is all that matters
Southampton had a real go at United and dominated large spells of the game. Their approach and mentality made for a great spectacle. Obviously the wrongly disallowed goal changed the dynamic of the game, as an early lead would’ve given the Saints tremendous impetus.

But credit to United, they dug deep. Having played four more games in the last fortnight, Southampton’s fresher legs were markedly evident in those aforementioned spells. Tactical changes by the United manager paid dividends in the end.

Mourinho’s single-minded approach in creating a winning culture at United has begun well. Unlike his predecessors, he’s embraced the challenge of managing this massive juggernaut of world football. He’s breathed belief back into the football club.

Performances matter little in a final. Winning is all that matters.
SK (Romeu wouldn’t be a half bad replacement for Carrick!)

…That was a really, really good cup final. I remember the FA Cup final last year being a bit drab up until Puncheon scored the first goal (thanks, LVG), but yesterday was a real treat, from beginning to end. Full credit to Southampton for putting in a superb performance – they really didn’t deserve to lose, but that’s just football I suppose.

I’m also a colossal idiot for ever having doubted Zlatan Ibrahimovic. What an absolute beast of a player! That stat from 16 Conclusions about his post-30 goal haul being more than Michael Owen’s career tally is remarkable. His ego may be enormous, but he most certainly walks the walk, and has delivered time and again this season, when we’ve needed it. We really do need to try and hold on to him beyond this season.

In a weird way, that performance was a refreshing change from United. We were by far the inferior team, but still managed to grind out the win (just like the Sir Alex era etc etc). That resilience is one of the most important things Mourinho could have brought back to the club. Hopefully this helps us kick on to win at least one more cup this season (hopefully the Europa).
DJ, MUFC (loads of deficiencies to talk about, but that’s for a different mail) India

…Not sure how we pulled that off but hugely relieved to walk off __with the win against a very impressive Southampton side.

I think we needed that to keep the momentum going and I can see us in the semis or final of the Europa league and even possibly make the top three with a decent run in the league. Given the investment though that should really be a minimum return.

Southampton deserved the game over the 90 minutes but when you have Zlatan in the team you can roll with the punches and still come out on top. His comments after the game, and antics in winding Rooney up about who would lift the trophy were as entertaining as the game itself which was a belter.

I thought Jose made an error in the positions of Mata and Lingard. Why have Lingard in the No.10 role with Mata huffing and puffing up and down the right hand side chasing after the Southampton full back and winger. I know Lingard got his goal but it looked all wrong to me.

Onwards and upwards.
Plato, MUFC

…What an entertaining match it was, and what a finish. I dread to think of where United would be without Zlatan.

Commiserations to Southampton, but I wouldn’t carp too much about the offside goal. Remember Bobby Stokes offside ‘goal’ in 1976 – what goes around comes around.

United!
Kevin, Dublin

Some final conclusions
1. First things first: enormous credit has to go to Southampton, as they were by far the better team. Their pace and movement caused us so many problems from the off and we were very fortunate to win. Southampton were better for about 90 minutes, but the final was won in three individual moments of brilliance. It’s hard to imagine that Southampton would have conceded at least two of those goals had Van Dijk played.

2. It is a huge shame that, once again, I am talking about refereeing decisions having a major effect on games. Southampton’s first goal had to stand, and would have changed the course of the game. The sooner we address these issues with the full means available (read: technology), the better.

3. I have said it before, and I will continue to do it until I’m blue in the face: Chris Smalling is a f*cking liability. His positioning, decision making and just his common sense is shocking. He’s always shirt-tugging and holding at set-pieces, and the number of times you see him trying to recover from bad positioning is appalling. He has to go in the summer.

4. But most of the team as a whole were pretty poor. For my money, only Zlatan, Valencia and probably Herrera can come out of that game with any credit. The defence was all over the place, with Smalling, Rojo and Bailly all having poor games. Even De Gea could have done better for the first goal.

5. Im starting to get slightly irked at Pogba constantly trying to run the ball out from defence. It’s not always appropriate and almost cost us a few times today. It’s great that he wants to retain possession under pressure but pick your moments.

6. How was no one else looking at Gabbiadini? He is a class act, and could easily be playing at a top-four club (no disrespect to Southampton). If only they’d had him all season.

7. What was up with Jose? He looked thoroughly miserable all day!

8. I did think Southampton were slightly lucky to keep 11 players on the pitch. On another day, Stephens could have easily seen red, and Romeu too could have seen a second yellow for the elbow on Herrera, though that would have been harsh. Lingard was also lucky to stay on after a few rash moments following his booking.

All in all, I’m delighted that we won the trophy and that match just reaffirms why I love the League Cup. No matter what happens with the rest of the season, we have a trophy and that’s all you can ask as a fan. Though I hope it’s not the last of the season, obviously!
Ted, Manchester

Everybody has the right to celebrate
This Sunday just past, I was meant to play a football match for the club for which I have been involved with for the past five years. As I missed most of last season as I was in the U.K. working and missed the first half of this season as I was studying in Dublin, I re-joined in January to play with the club’s ‘C’ team which as I can only commit to training every second session at best, I was happy to do.

Last Sunday was our fifth game since I returned and was also our first win. It was a hard fought game played in foul conditions in the bottom division of Limerick’s amateur football leagues, a city with a very proud amateur football/soccer heritage.

The relief in winning that one game was great and the reason any of us play or love football in the first place. During the game I was lucky to not have my nose broken in an accidental coming together with an opposition defender and left the field at full time with an almost Terry Butcher style shirt. This did not take the shine off the win and the enjoyment of the whole occasion. A fine evening was spent in the pub with my teammates discussing what to anyone that was not involved, was as inconsequential as an old episode of Neighbours.

My point is that Manchester United fans and players have every right to celebrate. It is their job, their profession. Many footballers, including the highest paid superstars, suffer serious injury in their career and suffer the extreme lows that come with it. If that is an accepted part of rhe game then is it not OK for the same players to celebrate wholeheartedly when they succeed? When they are in Wembley of all places with their hands on well and fairly earned trophy…

I am no fan of United and their monolithic tractor partner corporate business model and even less so of their current manager but to tell their players, manager, staff or fans that they have no right to celebrate winning the League Cup takes away from the very essence of the sport that we all claim to care so much about and that so may of us decry for losing so much of what made it the so-called ‘beautiful game’ to begin with.

If it shouldn’t matter for Manchester United to win a trophy at Wembley then why should it matter if my failing amateur team wins a game on a muddy pitch on a miserably wet Irish Sunday afternoon in February?

If it doesn’t or shouldn’t matter then its football as a sport that doesn’t matter anymore. We might as well all just give up and get up to speed on what’s happening on Ramsey St and watch Neighbours instead.
Kevin Walsh, Luimneach

#campaignagainstManUnited
You published this from me a few weeks ago( bless you for that):

‘Having watched in recent weeks;
Mikhitarian score when a yard offside and have it stand (scorpion)
Ibra score when a yard offside and have it stand (agst West Ham)
Rojo lunge in two footed and get away with it (agst Liverpool)
Rojo lunge in two footed and get away with it (agst Everton)
Yesterday, Mata lunge in two footed and get away with it
and given that everyone else isn’t allowed to score when a yard offside and we have seen Xhaka and Hendricks get reds for similar two-footers’

Then I can only agree with Jose when he says that the same rules don’t apply to him.

I just can’t understand what he is complaining about it. If this ‘Jose alternative rulebook’ is applied from here on out, I fully expect United to come second this season and walk the league by 10 points next year.

I’d like to submit yesterdays EFL cup final as further evidence of this trend. This is real folks – remember this is Jose Mourinho AND its Man Utd. Both masters of the dark arts. So get used to it football fans – next year that mind-numbingly boring and irritating era of Man Utd Uber alles will be back. They will walk the Prem – with a good team and 12 points a year handed to them by the refs – how could they not?

Only thing is – if you you thought Fergie’s Utd were smug, entitled and obnoxious in victory – just imagine what Jose’s Utd will be like…
Johnno
PS. If I’m right Chelsea fans – Conte is getting sacked next season – so brace yourselves.

A crying shame for Southampton
I was determined not to be a sore loser but…the referee and linesmen have a very difficult job but…if goal line technology has now been successfully introduced, it can surely only be a matter of time until a manager is able to review an offside decision that leads to a goal being either allowed or disallowed. As far as I can tell, the only argument against the introduction is the amount of time it would take to review the incident. with the quality and speed of television replays, I’m convinced this is a moot point. In fact, it’s probably quicker than having to deal with the player protests.

I initially wanted to write in to say how proud I felt of all the Saints players having battled back from 2-0 down, but then I got angry at the perceived injustice and now…and now…and now I’m crying again.
Harry, Manolo is my middle name, Devon

…Ultimately the most frustrating element of the game was that Saints turned up, put in our best performance of the season and somehow still lost. As alluded to in 16 conclusions, there was a certain inevitability about the whole thing and the metaphor that kept running through my head was we’re the nice guy and nice guys never win.

While we were busy doing everything right, winning possession, corners, shots with high energy and style. United were behind the bike shed having a fag, with their feet up before Zlatan strolls in stage right, grabs the girl and rides off into the sunset. Sometimes there is just no substitute for style.

I could go on to write several points about how sh*t the ref was, but ultimately when you consider how many errors a professional player makes, it’s inevitable that the officials make a few as well. The fact that this was goal number eight that has incorrectly been given as offside in United’s favour this season is neither here nor there. Instead I want to draw attention to an incident that yet again, by being the nice guys, shows how we shot ourselves in the foot.

Mid way through the second half, Lingard tries to hack down Redmond to stop a break. Through his own ineptitude at fouling, Redmond is only clipped and just about stays on his feet, we get advantage and the games carries on. It’s a small footnote quickly forgotten. If Redmond does what about every other player in the league would do and goes down there, it’s a 10000% a second yellow and an early bath for Lingard. Against 10 men with the momentum behind us, I think we go on to win the game. For me that was one of the key moment of the final.

Diving is a blight on the game, but decisions like that where a clear foul occurs explain why the risk/reward balance completely favour a player diving or going to ground. There is simply little tangible reward for staying on your feet and everything to be gained as shown by Herrera trying to get Romeu sent off by play acting the slightest touch with all United players gathering around the ref.
Tom Saints (Matt Le Tissier is an absolute legend, loved his indignant rage at half time)

Don’t forget Sol
‘He might just be the best free transfer in Premier League history.’

I know he’s a bit of a d**k now but are we seriously discounting Sol Campbell and his achievements? One of the best English defenders of the modern era leading the Invincibles to a level never reached again. Monumental for multiple title wins and the best defensive run in Champions League history. Zlatan is incredible but he still has some way to go before he can be mentioned as the best free transfer in league history.

Also, despite the incorrect offside decision being ‘simply a bad call’, is it any wonder why the reaction to it has been so emotional and visceral given the importance of the first goal in cup finals? Add to that that this is definitely not the first offside call that has gone in United’s favor this season (seriously, how many times is that now this season?) and that this was the biggest match in over 40 years for Southampton, you really have to give Claude Puel massive credit for not having a bigger moan post game. They were much the better team, played some lovely football throughout the match and were somewhat unfairly rewarded by an inept refereeing performance.
Falooda in NY

Non-cup final weekend thoughts
* Remember Cesc Fabregas? He started only his sixth game of the season on Saturday, and was ridiculously good. When Chelsea expect to face a packed defence, he has to play.

* At Selhurst Park, Aitor Karanka found himself with only one healthy full-back, so he went 3-5-2, which would have been fine if 1) 32-year-old Stewart Downing didn’t have to play wing-back; 2) Daniel Ayala didn’t have to play wide central defender; 3) they weren’t up against a team that attacked at pace on the wings. The first half was a trip to Ibiza for the hosts, and Boro’s lack of firepower meant they couldn’t take advantage of a shaky Palace right side.

* Right now the most underrated player in the league is Ben Foster. He’s played a lot of second fiddle in his career, but this year he looks like lead singer and guitarist, and someone in charge should be wondering whether he should start ahead of the Chin in Turin.

* For those of us who love the glorious sport of manager-watching, Saturday was El Clásico: Walter Mazzarri vs. Slaven Bilic. Mazzarri opened the scoring with a clinical afraid-to-watch-the-penalty back turn, but afterwards relied too much on his usual repertoire of disgust and exasperation. Bilic equalized in the second half by nearly drilling a hole in the fourth official’s chest with finger pointing, then seemed to have put the match away with repeated over-the-top refusals to believe his side hadn’t been given a penalty. But Mazzarri rallied with some surprisingly subtle tightly-balled-fist action, and sealed the draw with a perfect one-time smash to the dugout wall.

* Lee Grant of Stoke City has got the Le Sulk look down pat, and given the way Ryan Shawcross played yesterday, it’s no wonder. P.S. Say it very quietly, but I think Jon Moss is becoming a decent referee.

* Anyone else here looking forward to the Chelsea – Manchester United quarterfinal?
Peter G, Pennsylvania, USA

Thoughts on Chelsea v Swansea
– There have been real days when I’ve felt, ‘you know what, I’d be ok if we sell Hazard this summer (of course for a sum near Bale’s fee or likely more)’. Those are the days when for a few minutes he’d put a performance to match Messi at his heyday but inevitably be uninterested or showing some flashy dribbles without ruthlessness in the remaining time. Saturday epitomized Eden Hazard. At times he was unplayable, other times he wasn’t playing. Come on Eden, be more ruthless. Be the person you’re meant to be.

– That said Fabregas had a 10/10. Comfortably his best performance in a Chelsea shirt. What was striking was he played two roles. Before Matic’s introduction, he took turns with Kante to be a box-to-box and some of his runs were Lampard-esque. The best part is Cesc boasts technical skills Lamps never had! Once Matic came, he did the Pirlo role, something I’d implore Conte to try out more often.

– But the real point is the evolution of Fabregas as a player. I’ve seen him in his Arsenal (and to a lesser extent Barcelona days), he had those phases of insane assists+goals and then vanishing towards the end. Over the course of this season, Antonio has slowly but steadily changed Cesc. For starters, his positioning is top class now, he no more gets caught upfield. He knows when to press, when to tackle, when to drop back and stop an opponent’s passes. Not at the level of Makelele or Kante, but definitely far improved to what he was before. There was only one thing lacking in Fabregas’ game – tactical discipline. And now he’s winning Conte by improving on it. I shudder to think what would happen must he continue and succeed in this path.

– That brings me to Kante. I’ve stressed this a million times since summer window. Again, the signing of the summer all over the world. 30m is peanuts in the market for Kante. The best part is he’s not a commodity. There’s only one piece of such a player and that is N’Golo Kante. The only other version is retired and now coaches at Swansea. He’s omnipresent in the pitch. Unassuming guy by nature. What a player! Thank you for choosing Chelsea Kante. It’s indeed a previlage to watch you play. Another 10/10 performance.

– On the game itself, there’s a small issue with Chelsea. Conceding headed/set piece goals is the symptom. The real issue is that our back five is still a temporary stitch on a torn cloth than a proper fabric itself. Our back 3/5 is makeshift at its best. We have players playing out of position. The only thing keeping it going is some black magic by Conte creating the synergy. Moses is defensively suspect. For all his improvements, he simply does not have that defensive instinct to read danger, especially in far/back post or when marking a forward. Alli’s two goals, this goal by Llorente are examples. Azpilicueta on the other hand is limited by height. More than saying Chelsea suffer in long balls crossed, the actual issue is to (a) stop the source, crosses/not giving free kicks and (b) fix the defense in the summer.

– I was one of the first (coincidentally along with F365) to point out how Pedro is under rated. Forget about his contributions this season in terms of goals and assists, but since he joined us, Pedro has always been willing to run, press, work hard as long as he stays on the pitch. His commitment and desire has always been minimum 100%. And I’m so glad to see him reap the rewards for his commitment. He’s a phenomenal player and any day more intelligent than Willian. He does Kante’s job up field every time he’s on the pitch by winning ball back or harassing opponents. Add to it he has a brilliant off the ball run and finish. Another 8/10 performance.

– Jose recently whined (he’s doing a lot isn’t he?) about how Conte’s Chelsea play like how his teams of prime did. There’s merit in his argument that our inherent strength is still to bully or counter attack to score. However, Conte has started something else also, which was appreciated by Pep recently and was evident last night. For the first time in Abramovich era, Chelsea have a structure to attack/defend. Our build up (which Pep appreciated) has been very sophisticated. We try to build from the back with movements and patterns that Conte has imbibed from day one. This is only a start and give Conte a few years (hopefully) and Chelsea’s play would have changed big time. Evolution is a slow process and what I’m seeing now is only good. From Thibaut whose passing has definitely improved to our defenders and midfielders, there’s a structure and plan about how to keep the ball and attack spaces. Take Cahill out and put a better defender and our performances in big games will be much better.
Aravind, Chelsea fan

Hull have a home ground disadvantage
Here in my place of employment in Oz, we have a Hull native on our shift. For that reason, even before the appointment of Marco Silva, I have always had an interest in how “Ool” are travelling.

I have watched a few of their games this season, but against Burnley the other night, I was struck by the poor condition of the pitch. I realise most of today’s pitches are amazingly good compared to the old days, yadda yadda yadda, but if Hull stay up it will be in spite of their home ground, not because of it.

I am not saying that Burnley did not deserve their point by any means, but that surface has to be working against the type of football Silva is trying to get them to play. Some passes turned more than a Shane Warne wrong’un. There must have been a record number of games of ‘head tennis’ played out during the match, not from lumped clearances, just from balls bouncing all over the place.

It has been shown here in Australia that any time a pitch is used for anything other than football, it more or less ruins it for football, I suppose it’s sort of hard to believe that it happens in the Premier league.
Jeff Sims, Australia

Manchester United 3-2 Southampton: 16 Conclusions

* Jose Mourinho made no effort to hide his displeasure at the journey, but the final destination was always the most important thing for Manchester United. Their performance in an enthralling EFL Cup final against Southampton left more questions than answers, but – and __with every disrespect to the Community Shield – the serial winner has delivered a trophy at the first attempt.

Just as predictable as Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s late winner in a game Manchester United perhaps deserved to lose were the attempts at belittlement which followed. Rival fans criticised the players for celebrating winning England’s tertiary trophy, but this represents so much more than silverware. For United, this is forward momentum, the first rung on the ladder, the tangible reward for their recent improvements. They will need to play better to finally escape from the clutches of sixth place in the Premier League, and they will need to play better if they wish to augment their trophy collection further. But this provides the perfect platform.

* As for Southampton, the crushing nature of their late defeat, having fought back from two goals down, should not detract from their showing. Claude Puel’s side were the aggressors for most of the match, having more shots, more corners and more possession than their opponents. Southampton had the better team performance, but Manchester United had Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

What happens next at St Mary’s is difficult to say. Since being appointed manager in the summer, Puel has never enjoyed unanimous backing from supporters. His tactics have been questioned, his team selections have been scrutinised and his unemotional approach has been lambasted. But he clearly still enjoys the support of his players, and while their current Premier League placing will disappoint many, it was an impossible job to improve on their league position for the eighth successive season. On the basis of this performance, Puel has surely earned more credit __with his dissenters.

* “I have to make a decision,” said Mourinho in midweek. “If we want to play with a No  10, Wayne, it’s obviously his position.”

So imagine Wayne Rooney’s surprise when Manchester United did indeed start with a No 10, but the captain was left on the bench. His public insistence that he was staying at the club was met with indifference, such is the smooth nature of his phasing out at Old Trafford. For Rooney to be benched – and to stay on the bench – for a cup final was an unfathomable situation 12 months ago.

In his stead, Jesse Lingard was given the nod. with Henrikh Mkhitaryan injured in Europa League action, Lingard was entrusted with replicating his movement, dynamism and drive. Good luck.

But it was Rooney’s absence that truly caught the eye. Michael Carrick found himself in the same predicament. The message to United’s old guard is clear: accept a reduced role, or move elsewhere. If reports are to be believed, the captain will choose the latter option.

* United made six changes to their starting line-up, but, for the first time this season, Puel named an unchanged starting XI for Southampton. Sofiane Boufal returned from injury, but was named on the bench. The trio of James Ward-Prowse, Dusan Tadic and Nathan Redmond would supply the bullets for Manolo Gabbiadini.

Oriol Romeu and Steven Davis were obvious choices in midfield, but the manager might have been tempted to make a change in defence. Puel surely considered handing a debut to Martin Caceres at centre-half, the former Juventus defender capable of providing much-needed experience. But the decision to trust the pairing of Jack Stephens and Maya Yoshida was understandable; they had not conceded a single goal on their run to Wembley. Of course, they were yet to face Ibrahimovic.

* Since Southampton’s 4-0 win over Sunderland on February 11, United had played three times. And so it was understandable that Saints enjoyed the better start. Paul Pogba had the first attempt on goal, palmed away by Fraser Forster after a one-two with Ibrahimovic, but the south-coast side were soon in the ascendancy.

Redmond fired the first warning shot. The winger danced through a sleepy defence before winning a corner. It would be the story of much of the match.

But the fear was always that Southampton had to take advantage of their dominance before a potential United onslaught. After 11 minutes, it seemed as though they had. Ryan Bertrand’s cross from the left evaded everyone in a packed penalty area, finding Cedric Soares on the other flank. The Portuguese breezed past Marcos Rojo, and crossed for Manolo Gabbiadini to score. 1-0.

DISALLOWED: Southampton thought they had taken the lead against Man Utd. Watch the EFL Cup final on Sky Sports 1. https://t.co/enmNVf1QY4

— Sky Football ⚽️ (@SkyFootball) February 26, 2017

Well, not quite. The linesman flagged for offside, but Gabbiadini was clearly behind Chris Smalling. Bertrand was standing in an offside position, but did not interfere with play.

The decision to rule the goal out was described as “disgusting” by impartial pundit Matt Le Tissier. Such a reaction, although vitriolic and partisan, was understandable. Officiating has to be of the highest standard for the biggest games, and this was one of Southampton’s biggest games in 41 years. It was simply a bad call.

* At that stage, the script was written. United had started poorly, Southampton looked incisive and inspired, and they had reason to feel aggrieved at a refereeing decision. So the inevitability of their opponents taking the lead after 19 minutes was crushingly familiar.

Not that Southampton were blameless for their concession of the opener. The situation – a free-kick around 25 yards out – should never even have materialised. Romeu was commanding throughout, but an unnecessary tackle on Ander Herrera (who was snide and wonderful in equal measure) provided Ibrahimovic with an opportunity he would not spurn. The midfielder’s moment of foolishness, combined with Davis’ inability to jump in the wall and Forster’s impression of a falling tree, granted United the lead.

* That is the reductive way of describing Ibrahimovic’s first goal. Had Romeu not fouled Herrera, the chance would not have come to pass. Had Davis jumped, the free-kick would have been blocked. Had Forster moved quicker, the save was not a complicated one.

Ibrahimovic will not care, and rightfully so. Having told Pogba to vacate the premises in the kindest of terms, all that mattered was seeing the ball nestle in the bottom corner of the net. United were still rubbing their eyes after sleepwalking through the early stages, but their Swedish star had already showered, fetched the morning paper and cooked breakfast.

Each and every critic has been thoroughly embarrassed, and now can only sit back and watch in awe. One must wonder what Michael Owen was thinking. It was Ibrahimovic’s 223rd goal for club and country since turning 30 – one more than Owen managed in his entire club career.

* “Because I’m playing with Daley Blind, with Marcos Rojo, with Matteo Darmian, and all of them are playing a way I like a full-back to play.”

On the basis of this game, Mourinho rather likes his full-backs to play like they have won an award to play in a cup final for Manchester United. For Antonio Valencia was as reliable as Rojo was a liability.

Rojo was atrocious at LB, decent CB but he looks lost on the left and is shit on the ball, everything Luke Shaw isn't, bring him back Jose!

— Jon Harris (@JRharris77) February 26, 2017

The United manager’s comments above, made earlier in the week, were his attempt to explain the continued absence of Luke Shaw. The 21-year-old started each of the club’s first six games of the season, but has made just eight further appearances. He must have watched Rojo’s suicidal floundering and wondered quite where his dream move had turned into a nightmare.

The most recent claim is that Shaw is considering his Old Trafford future. It would be negligent of him not to do so; a broken leg stalled his development at a crucial stage of his career, and now his own manager is doing the same.

* That was always going to happen. ‘How can Lingard survive under ruthless Mourinho?‘ was the question I posed recently. ‘By scoring in cup finals’ was one particular response. His third goal in three Wembley appearances handed United a two-goal lead.

It was perhaps their best move of the match. Rojo, a safe distance from his own goal, combined with Pogba, Juan Mata and Anthony Martial to fashion an opportunity for Lingard, who placed his effort into the far corner.

His overall performance did little to ease suspicions that he is not good enough – he lost possession on 12 occasions and did not gain it once – with the game passing him by for large swathes. He also missed a glorious chance late on, before being substituted straight after. But he is scoring goals in cup finals at Wembley, and I’m sat here writing about him. So there.

* It was a quite bitter blow for Southampton, who had inexplicably fallen two goals behind. They had the quality but lacked the final touch; United were the exact opposite.

But their reward did finally come just before half-time. Redmond played in Ward-Prowse down the right-hand side, with Gabbiadini providing the finishing touch.

The man-of-the-match award was reasonably handed to Ibrahimovic, but Gabbiadini was excellent. The Italian’s first owed to his superior movement, while his second was a spectacular moment of instinct. His hold-up play was also impeccable, fashioning one chance for Ward-Prowse, and he proved a handful for Smalling and Eric Bailly all afternoon.

After Shaw came Bertrand. After Lallana came Mane. After Lovren came Van Dijk. Gabbiadini is the latest in a long line of replacements who are somehow improvements on Southampton’s conveyor belt of talent. Yet none have had quite the same immediate impact as their club-record signing. He has now scored five goals in three games;the only player to have scored more goals for Southampton this season is Charlie Austin (9). How long can they hold onto this one for?

* He would, of course, save his best for the equaliser. His sudden turn and shot three minutes into the second half left De Gea rooted on his line as the realisation hit the rest of the stadium: Southampton had deservedly levelled.

Mourinho must have been seething. The Portuguese was already pacing his touchline in the first half, clearly unhappy at the standard of performance. He brought Carrick on at half-time to replace the peripheral Mata, changing shape from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3.

As ever, the altering of the system seemed to be another attempt to maximise Pogba’s talents. All it served to do was highlight his deficiencies. The world-record signing has been quietly impressive in his debut season, but shirked on the biggest stage in his biggest game yet.

There were the typical moments of inspiration, but they interrupted a performance blighted by poor decision making. His lack of defensive awareness was startlingly obvious in a midfield two next to Herrera, while the change in system to suit his needs, with Carrick his safety net, did nothing to improve his game. And that is not to mention his aerial ability; Romeu crashed a header against the post in the second half when marked by the Frenchman, who managed the impressive feat of looking smaller while jumping.

At 23, Pogba is still learning, and he is tasked with doing so under the glare of the spotlight. Each touch is scrutinised, each moment highlighted. But Mourinho should do more to protect him. He struggled throughout, yet played the full 90 minutes. He has been substituted just once so far this season.

* Southampton fought back from an incorrectly disallowed goal and a deficit of two to earn level footing in the match, but they would not stop there. Chances came to take the lead through Romeu and Redmond. United barely held firm.

The left-wing combination of Bertrand and Redmond was proving a handful. The former continues to grow in stature, providing defensive solidity and attacking verve. His only problem is that Danny Rose does it slightly better, and sits just ahead of him in England’s pecking order.

Redmond telling his team-mates to keep looking for him up against Valencia: 'He can't play.' #EFLCupFinal pic.twitter.com/Mpr4LDfcCt

— Ben Grounds (@Ben_Islington) February 26, 2017

It is now a case of ‘when, not if’ in terms of Redmond’s international chance. The 22-year-old had four shots – more than any Southampton player – created two goalscoring chances, and completed three dribbles. Gabbiadini will take all nominations for lead actor, but there is no doubt as to the most influential member of his supporting cast.

* “We’ve done very well in the Premier League for the last three or four years. To get a cup? That would be proof of our great improvement, so I want to help achieve that.”

To his credit, few were as dedicated to that particular cause as Maya Yoshida. The centre-half made two tackles, six clearances and two interceptions. There can be no shame in being bested by Ibrahimovic, for the Japan international was imperious throughout.

The pressure placed on Yoshida’s shoulder cannot be underestimated. His last full season as a regular starter at club level came in Southampton’s first season back in the Premier League. He has provided back-up to Dejan Lovren, Virgil van Dijk, Jose Fonte and Toby Alderweireld. He has been called upon to play at right-back. But with Fonte’s sale and Van Dijk’s injury, the loyal servant has been promoted to the role of central-defensive leader. He almost guided his troops to victory.

Yoshida can and should be improved upon in the summer, but he has proven his worth as a reliable squad option. He certainly fared better than his United defensive counterparts.

* It started with a defensive header from a corner, and it ended with the most attacking of headers at the other end. Even in the middle, Ibrahimovic afforded us some stellar link-up play, before strolling into the penalty area and sealing the 30th major trophy of his career.

His teammates have to learn as much as they can from him during his short stay at the club. The 35-year-old led from the front but ensured to help out at the back, making as many clearances as he had shots on target (3). Mourinho was appointed for his winning mentality, but translating that particular trait from the dugout is difficult. To see it manifest itself on the pitch in the form of Ibrahimovic is quite something.

Since the start of last season, no player has scored more goals in all competitions for United than the Swede (26). Since the start of last season. He might just be the best free transfer in Premier League history.

* Joe Hart will hardly be quaking in his boots. On this basis, even an injured Jack Butland would be preferential. Only one Southampton player emerged from this cup final defeat with his reputation harmed.

Fraser Forster might be 6′ 7″, but the 28-year-old somehow manages to make the goal look bigger, not smaller. He should have done far better with all three goals. It might feel harsh, but that is what elite, international level goalkeepers do. His performances this season stand as conclusive proof that he does not belong in that category. A reminder that this is Southampton’s best-paid player, and he cost them in a cup final.

* “For the development of the team there is nothing better than the feeling of trophies.”

If anyone should know, it’s Mourinho. Two of his previous three triumphs in this competition were the preface to Premier League titles. This is evidence that his methods still work. Evidence for the players, evidence for the fans and, were it ever truly needed, evidence for himself.

His most recent demise at Chelsea hurt him. The Portuguese is the master of deception, of hiding his weaknesses, and so he has been able to mask the effects of his Stamford Bridge sacking. This is not redemption, but it is a step in the right direction.

So too for United. They have now been beaten just once in 26 games, and could yet taste success in the Europa League and FA Cup. Losing this final having held a two-goal advantage might well have destroyed their season; this could breathe new life into it.

Matt Stead

Raiola denies ‘dispute’ with Ferguson over Pogba

Paul Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola claims to be ‘stunned’ at Sir Alex Ferguson’s claim that the pair clashed over the French midfielder before he left for Juventus.

Pogba left Manchester United in 2012 after refusing to sign a new contract, __with Ferguson writing in his management book ‘Leading’:

‘I distrusted him from the moment I met him. He became Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s agent while he was playing for Ajax, and eventually he would end up representing Pogba, who was only 18 years old at the time.

‘We had Paul under a three-year contract, and it had a one-year renewal option which we were eager to sign. But Raiola suddenly appeared on the scene and our first meeting was a fiasco.

‘He and I were like oil and water. From then on, our goose was cooked because Raiola had been able to ingratiate himself __with Paul and his family and the player signed with Juventus.’

But Raiola has now appeared on talkSPORT claiming that their only problem was Ferguson’s refusal to see Pogba’s potential.

“Dispute? No, there was a discussion about what was the value of the player in that moment.

“I think Alex Ferguson had a different view on Paul Pogba to what the rest of the world had and that is his right.

“Paul Pogba proved what his value is and maybe at that time it was the best thing to go away, have a new experience, and being under Antonio Conte for sure was important.

“I didn’t have any dispute with Alex Ferguson. If Alex Ferguson had a dispute with me, I don’t know because at that moment there was not a dispute. I was a little bit stunned by what he said in his book but everyone has an opinion.

“You will not hear any bad words from me about Mr Alex Ferguson.”

Arsenal lose academy coach Jonker to Wolfsburg

Arsenal have confirmed that academy coach Andries Jonker has left the club to become Wolfsburg manager.

Jonker joined the Gunners in July 2014, and has overseen the ‘transformation of our academy’ – as Arsenal put it – during his time __with the club.

The 54-year-old is returning to Wolfsburg, where he previously served as assistant manager, to become head coach of the Bundesliga side.

“I have had a wonderful three years at Arsenal,” Jonker told the club’s official website. “We have made significant progress and it has been great to be part of a club which puts such an emphasis on developing young players through its academy.

“I leave a great team of people who will continue to do a terrific job and I would like to thank everyone, including the board, chief executive Ivan Gazidis and Arsène Wenger for all the support.

“There are some top young players in the Arsenal academy. I look forward to seeing them progress their careers.”

Chief executive Ivan Gazidis added: “This is a great opportunity for Andries and we wish him every future success. Under Andries’ guidance, we have made huge progress in our academy operations.

“Arsenal is known around the world for its development of young players and we are confident we will find the right person to continue to lead our progress.”

Keeper blames ‘f***ed up’ GLT – after he f***ed up

Jeroen Zoet has blamed the “f***ed up” goal-line technology after costing PSV their Eredivisie title hopes against Feyenoord.

Feyenoord extended their lead at the summit of the Dutch top flight after PSV goalkeeper Zoet’s costly error eight minutes from time on Sunday.

They now lead second-placed Ajax by five points, while PSV are 12 points behind.

PSV almost earned a crucial away point at the league leaders, __with Gaston Pereira cancelling out Jens Toornstra’s opener.

But Jan-Arie van der Heijden’s 82nd-minute header was inexplicably carried over his own line by Zoet, who had actually saved the initial shot.

The own goal that knocked PSV out of the Eredivisie title race. As soon as Zoet pulls the ball back, the goal-line system rules it as a goal pic.twitter.com/WS2GJnopmC

— Juan Direction (@JuanDirection58) February 27, 2017

“This is seriously f***ed up,” Zoet told NOS after the match. “The goal-line technology made the difference and things could have been different if it had not.

“He went only by his watch. If that had not happened, I think he would have said no goal.

“You should always keep believing in things, but the title is very far away. [It’s] a serious blow.”

Dier predicts Alli will make more mistakes

Eric Dier says Dele Alli’s mistake against Gent will not be his last but believes the Tottenham midfielder proved his mettle by bouncing back against Stoke.

Alli came under fire after being sent off for a rash tackle versus Gent last week as 10-man Spurs drew 2-2 and crashed out of the Europa League.

The 20-year-old, however, was thrown back into the limelight against Stoke on Sunday and justified his manager’s faith by scoring a goal in an emphatic 4-0 victory.

Mauricio Pochettino said after the win he had given Alli “more love than normal” following his red card at Wembley, despite the England man again revealing a tendency to lose his temper.

Alli showed more restraint at White Hart Lane, however, despite coming under pressure, and Dier, a close friend of Alli’s, believes his team-mate showed his strength of character.

“He has to expect that from players like Stoke have, experienced players who have been around the block, he needs to expect players will irritate him, try to get in his head,” Dier said.

“But he knows that and he handles it very well. It’s only normal he will get better at it over time.

“He is very young and that (tackle against Gent) won’t be the last mistake he makes. He will make more mistakes and the most important thing is he learns from them and reacts in the right way, and he does.”

Dier added: “He was very disappointed after what happened on Thursday and there has been a lot of attention on him.

“But he is very young and of course he is going to make a mistake. I don’t think it fazes him, he played his game and scored a goal, and everyone will forget about what happened on Thursday.”

Tottenham’s win means they climb up to second in the Premier League, jumping above Manchester City and reducing the gap behind Chelsea back to 10 points.

It was the first of four games in a row at White Hart Lane for Pochettino’s men, who host Everton on Sunday, Millwall in the FA Cup and then Southampton later this month.

“We have to worry about ourselves. We have a lot of home games in a row now so try to pick up as many points as possible and get some momentum back,” Dier said.

“The way the league is and how tight it is at the top, goal difference could be huge, so we know that and it’s on our mind.

“We wanted to score as many as possible against Stoke. We were a bit disappointed we didn’t win the second half and score as many as possible.”

F365’s early loser: Eddie Howe

If there was one manager in the Premier League thought to be more secure in his position than Claudio Ranieri, it was probably Eddie Howe. The Bournemouth boss’s achievement in taking the Cherries from League Two to the Premier League means he should have a job for life. Many, though, said the same about the now deposed Leicester manager, and Howe’s side are in equally dreadful form as the champions.

Of course, the likelihood of the Bournemouth players rallying against their manager is extremely slim at best, and Howe may claim that Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at West Brom was symptomatic of their fortunes of late. Despite taking an early lead, they were beaten by a deflected strike and the combination with a goalkeeping howler at one end and a shot-stopping masterclass at the other. But six defeats and two draws from their last eight games is relegation form.

Before the trip to the Hawthorns, Howe remained characteristically unruffled. “The spell we have been on, you can’t hide from. It’s not been good, conceding a lot of goals,” he admitted. “But I think it has been slightly unusual the way that has happened, so I don’t think there is anything structurally wrong __with us. We haven’t changed anything from early season, we have just suffered in certain moments.”

To say that there is ‘nothing structurally wrong’ about a team that has conceded 20 goals in seven games is either misleading or ignoring the blatantly obvious. Only Swansea have conceded more goals in the Premier League this term.

That seven-game run started back in the first weekend of the New Year, when Howe made 11 changes to his side for the FA Cup third-round tie that ended in an embarrassing 3-0 defeat. Bournemouth were sitting pretty in ninth place. Since then, they’ve dropped to 14th, just five points clear of the bottom three, __with only Leicester in worse form, and then only marginally.

In that same period, Swansea, under new manager Paul Clement have shipped in six fewer goals, and their opponents have included Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City. The Swans are improving; the same cannot be said of Bournemouth.

Bournemouth’s slide coincided with the transfer window, during which Howe failed to strengthen his ranks. Indeed, the Cherries ended January weaker than they started it, due to Nathan Ake being recalled to Chelsea.

Some people have pinpointed Ake’s exit as mitigation for their current woes, but the numbers hardly back that up. The Chelsea defender started only eight matches in which the Cherries conceded 18 goals – an average of 2.25 goals per game.

Howe failed to get in a replacement centre-half, which gave Tyrone Mings an opportunity to come in. Few would begrudge Mings his opportunity but having been sidelined with a knee injury for over a year, which he sustained 12 minutes into his Premier League debut, the 23-year-old requires careful nurturing.

The manager also wanted a goalkeeper in January, with only Chelsea’s failure to recruit a suitable replacement scuppering a deal for Asmir Begovic. Howe had no Plan B, however, meaning he has no choice but to persevere with Artur Boruc. The Pole has conceded three goals per game since it became clear his manager wanted to replace him, with West Brom’s winner coming directly from the keeper’s mistake.

Howe tried to tinker when he switched to a back-three at Everton. Bournemouth conceded three before half-time and the experiment was scrapped. They went back to a 4-4-2 in the second half at Goodison and still conceded three more.

The Bournemouth squad spent some of their 12-day break in Madrid and did “some really intense training,” according to Howe. You would expect much of that time was devoted to working on defensive shape, and though West Brom’s two goals came via an unfortunate deflection and an individual error, Howe will have been hoping for better after getting the opportunity to intensively coach both individuals and units within his side.

Under Howe, Bournemouth have suffered a New Year dip on almost an annual basis as they climbed through the divisions. If he is to continue to be discussed as potential candidate for some of the country’s biggest jobs, then the 39-year-old has to identify and implement some swift solutions for his squad’s deficiencies and hope he doesn’t live to regret the club’s failings in the transfer market.

Ian Watson

Aston Villa in 1998-99: Missing the chance to join the elite

Lukaku agent: He will sign ‘longer’ Everton deal

Romelu Lukaku will sign a new, long-term contract at Everton, according to agent Mino Raiola.

Lukaku joined Everton on loan in 2013, moving to the club on a permanent deal for £28million a year later.

He scored his 60th Premier League goal for the club – he is now their joint-leading scorer in PL history – in the 2-0 win over Sunderland on Saturday, and is now closing in on a new deal at Goodison Park.

Lukaku’s current contract expires in summer 2019, but Raiola confirmed that he would sign a new deal in the near future.

When asked by talkSPORT whether the contract was done, the agent replied: “99.99999999%.”

He continued: “We are signing a longer contract, so that is for sure the intention [to stay].

“In football, contracts are not there to be going until the end sometimes, but there is always two parties in the deal.

“If everybody thinks it is better to move on, then that will be done at that moment. But for this moment, he is signing a contract __with Everton.”

The referee was very bad today, says angry Bilic

Slaven Bilic thinks “the decisions were big time against” West Ham during their 2-2 draw against West Brom on Saturday.

Sofiane Feghouli cancelled out Nacer Chadli’s early opener for the Baggies before Manuel Lanzini looked to have won it for the hosts but there was still time for Jonny Evans to head home an injury-time equaliser.

And Bilic was livid __with the officiating following the match __with him feeling that “every” decision went against his side.

“The way we played makes me proud and happy,” Bilic said. “We should have, could have scored more but we scored enough to win the game.

“To concede like this, it is very frustrating.

“The decisions were big time against us, every one of them. It is hard for referees but when you are on the wrong side of all decisions it makes you very, very angry. The referee was very bad today.

“We should enjoy tonight but now we have that bitter taste in our mouths. We didn’t deserve anything but a win tonight.

“To be fair I am already big time punished with what happened in the game. I don’t think that I crossed the line, it was nothing personal. It was the fourth or fifth decision which went against us and it’s hard to get over that without reacting.”

Gibbs defends controversial challenge on Markovic

Arsenal defender Kieran Gibbs has defended his controversial challenge on Hull winger Lazar Markovic.

The Gunners edged to a 2-0 victory over relegation-battling Hull on Saturday, __with Alexis Sanchez scoring both goals.

The hosts were far from convincing however, their opening goal being allowed despite a handball in the build-up.

Hull also felt aggrieved in the second half when Gibbs fouled Markovic, who was closing in on Petr Cech’s goal in search of an equaliser.

Mark Clattenburg saw fit to show the left-back a yellow card, but many felt that Gibbs was the last man, and so should have been sent off.

“I took a chance __with the challenge on Markovic,” Gibbs admitted to Sky Sports. “The ref said the ball was going away from goal.”

Hull manager Marco Silva insisted that Gibbs should have been sent off.

He said: “Yes. It is true. Markovic goes to the goal.”

Football365’s early winner: Manolo Gabbiadini

Some clubs’ struggles can be confusing to those on the outside looking in, but others are a great deal more transparent. Ask any Southampton supporter to diagnose the Saints’ problem during the first half of the season, and every one would give you the same answer: Goals. Southampton scored 23 in their first 23 league games.

In fact, most supporters would have given you the same answer last July if asked to predict in which area their team would be found lacking. Having ranked joint-seventh for goals scored in the Premier League in 2015/16, Southampton sold the two players who scored the most, the two players who had the most shots on target and the two players who ranked second and third for assists for the club last season. Sadio Mane and Graziano Pelle may have raised £42m in transfer fees, but their departure left a hole in Southampton’s attack.

The arrival of Nathan Redmond from Norwich City only added a sticking plaster to a gaping wound when a thick bandage was needed. Puel has put faith in the form and fitness of Jay Rodriguez, Charlie Austin and Shane Long, but only through the lack of alternative option. You would need to attach all three together to create a fully-functioning first-choice striker for a team __with aspirations of matching last season’s top-six finish.

Last season, Southampton’s shot conversion rate was 14.8%. This season, __with Mane and Pelle gone, it had dropped to 9.21% by the end of January. Puel had been asked to paint a masterpiece with wax crayons and three old felt-tip pens.

There aren’t many situations that can’t be improved by the introduction of a six-foot handsome Italian, and the arrival of Manolo Gabbiadini may just have saved a meandering, drifting Southampton season. Costing only £17m from Napoli – we really do have to say ‘only’ when discussing a fee under £20m for an international striker now – Gabbiadini’s career was in danger of waning after the promise he showed at Sampdoria. He had scored regularly in Europe for Napoli, but had started only 19 Serie A matches in two-and-a-half years in Naples.

“I am very, very happy,” said the Italian after signing. “Since I was a kid, one of my dreams was to perform in one of the biggest leagues in the world, so now that it’s happening I can’t wait to start playing. The facilities that I have seen here are at an incredible level – top-level standards even for Serie A. These are the sort of facilities that make you want to come here and perform as soon as possible.”

If Gabbiadini said all the right things after arriving in England on the final day of the transfer, his earliest actions in a Southampton shirt have drowned out all words. His first two Premier League games have produced 11 shots and three goals; that’s 3% of Southampton’s league shots and 11% of their goals for the season from one player in his first 163 minutes.

Gabbiadini will be fortunate to find any defences quite as accommodating as David Moyes’ shambolic band of aren’ts, aren’t-any-mores and probably-never-will-bes, but Gabbiadini is a striker who ticks most of the boxes for a lone striker in the Premier League. He met Ryan Bertrand’s cross for the opening goal and then profited from abysmally weak marking in the box to turn and score a second just before half-time. It is a tiny sample size, but the signs are promising.

Should Gabbiadini continue to flourish, Claude Puel would be forgiven for having bittersweet memories of his first season in England. It’s difficult not to wonder how much higher up the table and deeper into the Europa League their new striker could have taken them across a whole season. Southampton’s strategy of selling their most valuable assets for what they consider above a reasonable price only works if they re-invest the proceeds wisely and quickly.

Daniel Storey

Liverpool v Tottenham: The dregs XI

Before feasting upon the quality on show in Liverpool’s clash __with Tottenham this weekend, take a walk down a dog turd-covered memory lane as we remember some of the dross that has appeared in this fixture before. The only rules are that the player must have appeared in a Liverpool v Tottenham Premier League match since the year 2000, to make it vaguely relevant…

GK: Radek Cerny: Despite both sides having some woeful keepers over the last couple of decades, they seem to have lined up against each other more often than not __with a relatively safe pair of hands in the sticks. So Cerny gets the nod on this occasion, which must be a rare feeling for a lad who played 16 league games in four years.

Cerny was signed to provide back-up for Paul Robinson at a time when the England keeper was undisputed No.1 for club and country. When Cerny’s chance came, under Juande Ramos while Robinson was chucking them in, the Czech stopper failed to take it. He dropped into the Championship with QPR and performed OK, but wasn’t trusted with the gloves when the Rs earned promotion to the Premier League.

LB: Gilberto: The left-back became the first Brazilian to play for Spurs who, not unreasonably, expected that the signing from Hertha Berlin might be a bit useful if he’d played 35 times for Brazil. But, Anderson, Roque Junior, Afonso Alves…

The then-31-year-old had a nightmare debut in the UEFA Cup, making a costly error before being hooked at half-time. “Every player makes mistakes. He needs to play more, that’s why I took him off,” said Juande Ramos, somewhat confusingly. Gilberto made seven Premier League appearances in 18 months before being shipped back to Brazil.

CB: Goran Bunjevcevic: The Serbian was a favourite of Glenn Hoddle, but as a sweeper, he was never quite suited to the demands of playing centre-half in the Premier League. Hoddle tried him in a number of positions, but once the Spurs legend left the manager’s hot-seat, Bunjevcevic’s number was up. Martin Jol, understandably, wanted someone who could run and tackle at centre-back.

CB: Josemi: Merseyside’s David May, non-playing sub Josemi made sure he’ll be remembered, if not recognised, by manoeuvring himself into position next to Steven Gerrard for the photos as the Liverpool skipper lifted the European Cup in 2005.

Josemi was Rafael Benitez’s first signing as Liverpool manager, with the Spaniard being picked for his compatriot’s first game in charge of the Reds – a 1-1 draw at Spurs. Josemi failed to settle on Merseyside and returned to his homeland with Villarreal in a swap deal for Jan Kromkamp. Which brings us neatly to…

RB: Jan Kromkamp: According to Wikipedia, the Dutchman was ‘a fair crosser of the ball with a lack of pace, who had difficulty in stopping opposition wingers getting crosses in’. Bit of a problem for a full-back, that, who was struggling to get a game for Villareal when the call came from Liverpool.

Benitez sussed him quite quickly, as Kromkamp admitted: “Rafa wanted to find a solution for me. His argument was that I wasn’t really a defender and he was right.”

CM: Milenko Acimovic: Another of Hoddle’s signings, the Slovenia star was much coveted when he agreed to join Spurs from Red Star Belgrade in summer 2002 after impressive showings at the World Cup and Euro 2000. He made only four starts before being flogged to Lille, where he admitted his move to the Premier League came too soon: “Maybe I made a mistake by signing so early in England. Perhaps I should have come to France before to learn.”

CM: Hossam Ghaly: Inconsistent at best, absolute sh*te at worst, Ghaly managed to make himself despised among Tottenham fans for his protest at being subbed against Blackburn in May 2007. Having been brought on in the first half, Ghaly had a ‘mare before being hooked in the second period – a decision that was very well received by the home supporters. Not having that, Ghaly removed his shirt and threw it to the floor. Despite issuing a grovelling apology a few days later, Ghaly was nowhere near good enough to get away with such behaviour and he never pulled on a Tottenham jersey again.

LM: John Piercy: There are some players we all have problems trying to remember; then there are players we are certain we have never actually heard of. Piercy falls into the second of those two categories. Apparently, he played a total of 123 minutes for Tottenham over two seasons between 1999 and 2001, but I’d defy you to pick him out of a line-up.

RM: Oussama Assaidi: “He’s an exciting player that will excite the crowd,” said Brendan Rodgers upon signing the winger for £2.4million from Heerenveen in 2012. Those who were there to witness his four substitute appearances in the league would probably disagree. However, the Reds still managed to almost double their money on Assaidi when he was sold to Al-Ahli after making him Stoke’s problem for a couple of seasons.

CF: Jamie Slabber: Youth product Slabber made his solitary Tottenham appearance as a substitute against Liverpool in a 3-2 defeat in March 2003. Despite setting up a goal for Teddy Sheringham, the 18-year-old was never seen in a Spurs shirt again. Slabber dropped into non-league, where he has since done a tour of 15 clubs. So far.

CF: Andriy Voronin: The Ukraine striker joined on a free transfer in 2007 and he proved himself to be worth every penny. As the second ponytailed striker in Rafa Benitez’s squad, Voronin got off to a fine start, scoring three goals in his first four matches, but it soon became clear that his quality could not match his effort. Benitez wanted him out and Voronin joined Hertha Berlin on loan in August 2008. A successful spell in Germany failed to convince Benitez, despite Hertha’s desire to keep the striker. Voronin returned to Liverpool, where he kicked his heels before joining Dynamo Moscow in January 2010.

Ian Watson

Henderson: Liverpool can’t let this season go to waste

Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson says that it is vital that Liverpool don’t let their poor form in January cloud their season.

Liverpool started the season in the kind of form that put them in the race for the title, but have since fallen away and now face a battle for Champions League qualification.

Jurgen Klopp’s side have won one of their last ten matches in all competitions, a run Henderson knows must end soon.

‘January wasn’t what any of us had hoped for and it certainly wasn’t what any of us expected, from ourselves as individuals or the team,’ Henderson wrote in the matchday programme.

‘Everyone at the club, from players through to all the staff, have worked extremely hard up until now and it’s vital we don’t let all that hard work go to waste because of a difficult January.

‘It’s on us to ensure it was a ‘bad month’ and not a bad season.

‘In football you can regain that positive feeling as quickly as it is possible to lose it.

‘Things can turn quickly and we have the opportunity and ability to do that.

‘As the manager has said repeatedly, the season is still very much alive and there is still a big prize to compete for.’

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