With pre-season now set to be cut significantly, Maresca has used the competition to experiment with a new system. Against Flamengo he switched to a formation utilising more traditional full-backs and with Cole Palmer playing as an inverted winger, just as he did under previous boss Mauricio Pochettino. That ended in a disappointing 3-1 defeat and attracted criticism, although they …
Read More »
There will be a first-time winner of the Wimbledon women’s title on Saturday after Iga Swiatek and Amanda Anisimova reached the final. Swiatek was calmness personified as she swept aside Belinda Bencic in a 6-2, 6-0 victory that lasted just 72 minutes. Advertisement In contrast, her opponent Anisimova stunned world No 1 and title favourite Aryna Sabalenka in a dramatic …
Read More »
This is my “final” draft mock for 2025, with the scare quotes there because I’ll update this over the next 24 hours if I hear anything relevant to any of these picks. The true first round is 27 picks, but in this mock I go down through pick 30 as I’ve heard a few more rumors on the teams drafting …
Read More »
There are two major decisions facing Chelsea for Sunday’s Club World Cup final against all-conquering PSG. The first has to do with Moisés Caicedo and his twisted ankle, which appears to be mending but probably not mending fast enough. Do we risk starting him? Should we risk starting him and potentially aggravating the injury? Is a hobbled Caicedo a better …
Read More »
Having both won major European trophies at the end of the 2024–25 campaign, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain now have the chance to claim world champion status. PSG secured their first ever Champions League title in May, before which Chelsea had won the Europa Conference League to cap an encouraging first season under Enzo Maresca. Both sides have flexed their muscles …
Read More »
There is just one game left in the season in which Paris Saint-Germain finally won the first Champions League in their history to complete a historic treble and that game is the Club World Cup final, but Luis Enrique says it has not been his best. He was better, he claims, when he lost. Besides, the PSG coach said, Manchester …
Read More »
Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida has commented on the possible turn-based future of the series, following the recent success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Over the course of the series, Final Fantasy games have moved away from classic turn-based battles and progressed towards the all-action gameplay of 2023’s Final Fantasy 16, which disappointed some long-term fans. By contrast, Sandfall …
Read More »