How Not To Run A Club: Valencia CF And Peter Lim
Javi Gracia's Valencia fell to a 2-1 defeat against Granada on Wednesday, the side's second consecutive loss.
FULL-TIME pic.twitter.com/iZr8NS9AwP
— Valencia CF (@valenciacf_en) December 30, 2020
Javi Gracia's Valencia fell to a 2-1 defeat against Granada on Wednesday, the side's second consecutive loss.
FULL-TIME pic.twitter.com/iZr8NS9AwP
— Valencia CF (@valenciacf_en) December 30, 2020
Supporters of Ligue 1 club Nantes discovered one of the highest echelons of pettiness that the Earth has ever seen on Wednesday. A band of rowdy supporters berated the team with insults and clown music during training as a means to voice their displeasure with the appointment of former France national team manager Raymond Domenech.
I wasn't in the West Brom changing room before the club's match against Leeds, but I can imagine that Sam Allardyce's pre-game speech went something like this:
"OK lads, we were remarkably good on defense against Liverpool on the weekend. That was one of the best attacks in Europe, and we held them to one goal. That was just brilliant lads.
Manager Sam Allardyce brought his West Brom side to Anfield on Sunday as massive underdogs. His Baggies had just one win all season and were on the road against league leaders Liverpool.
Big Sam brought out his big guns: the rarely seen 6-4-0 formation, which West Brom stuck to despite conceding an early Sadio Mane goal.
Got to love the West Brom 6-4-0 fromation pic.twitter.com/6UZJk7hA38
Brentford made club history on Tuesday by beating Newcastle in the League Cup quarterfinals, the fourth Premier League side the Bees have usurped in this year's competition.
The victory marked the first time in club annals that Brentford has reached the semifinals of a major tournament (that classic Johnstone's Paint Trophy run of 2010-11 doesn't count).
Last week, West Brom fired Slaven Bilić after just seven points in 13 matches to begin the season, making him the first Premier League manager to be relieved of his duties this season. The timing is pretty impressive, considering that five Premier League managers had been fired by this time last season.
2020 has been a rollercoaster year for many teams, but few clubs have experienced as many ups and downs this past year as Arsenal.
Last season's FA Cup champions are currently winless in their last seven matches and sitting 15th in the Premier League, which would be the worst finish since 1975-76 for the North London club.
The Gunners have five losses and two draws in their last seven matches, putting Mikel Arteta's status as Arsenal manager under heavy scrutiny. Arteta's response to this criticism was, while interesting, not entirely logical.
31 years after beginning his managerial career as a player-coach, Sam Allardyce is back at the club where it all began: West Bromwich Albion. When he started at West Brom, Allardyce was the reserve team coach for a second division side, now he will be tasked with managing a team stuck in the depths of the Premier League relegation zone.
The loss of Raúl Jiménez has been a big blow to Wolverhampton Wanderers but manager Nuno Espírito Santo says they must find other ways to score in the absence of the injured Mexican striker.
Jiménez, 29, will be sidelined for the foreseeable future after he underwent surgery on a fractured skull. Without their top goalscorer and focal point of attack, Wolves rarely tested Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday, going down 4-0 at Anfield.
Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has claimed Chelsea are favorites to lift the Premier League title this season because of the strength and depth of the squad that coach Frank Lampard has at his disposal.