Coming off the back of four defeats in their last five games, Manchester United might have liked an extra foot or 12 of snow to have fallen on Anfield on Sunday morning to ensure the postponement of a game they were expected to lose by a cricket score. As it proved, they did rather well, and if it wasn’t for Harry Maguire finding “Row Z of the Anfield Road Stand” with a last minute chance, they might have headed back up the motorway with a win instead of a 2-2 draw.
In Ken Early’s view, what could yet prove to be a turning point for the club was the post-match reaction of Ruben Amorim who, rather than jigging and reeling in delight, “sounded like a guy who is tired of being cheated and isn’t going to take it any more”. How could his players be so abysmal against the likes of Wolves and Bournemouth, and then play like that at Anfield? “For Amorim the question of attitude comes before everything else. His team had just proved it by fighting the league leaders to a standstill – and he was furious with them.”
The Liverpool faithful, meanwhile, were left furious by Trent Alexander-Arnold’s woeful performance. “Conor Bradley did more in his 15 minutes on the pitch than Alexander-Arnold had managed in the previous 85,” writes Ken, Roy Keane concluding that if he carries on defending like that, he’ll end up at Tranmere Rovers rather than Real Madrid.
In Gaelic games, Gordon Manning brings news that former Derry manager Rory Gallagher will be part of the management team at Naas for the upcoming season, while in racing JP McManus has added The New Lion to his collection of rather nippy horses, purchasing the Challow Hurdle winner from Darren Yates.
And Denis Walsh looks ahead to the debut of the TGL Golf League on Tuesday night, the idea conceived by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. “The basic concept is stadium golf in a playing area about the size of an NFL pitch. The tee box and the zone for hitting approach shots will have grass, but everything else will be virtual,” he explains. “It might be too much like darts at the Ally Pally for your taste. Or that might be a good thing. It might be fun.” And with dwindling TV audiences, golf needs all the fun it can muster.
TV Watch: Premier Sports have live coverage this evening (7.0) of the Supercoppa final between Inter and AC Milan which, once again, is being played in that well-known Italian hotspot of . . . Riyadh. And an hour later, Sky Sports has the Premier League meeting of Wolves and Nottingham Forest, Wolverhampton the somewhat less balmy venue.
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