Ken Early on floundering Liverpool; McFarland frustrated with Warwick red card

It was certainly a Sunday for Manchester United fans yesterday as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer once again got the better of Pep Guardiola, his side ending Manchester City's winning run and creating a small bit of breathing room ahead of Leicester in second place. Bruno Fernandes opened the scoring for United before Luke Shaw made it two in the second half. Shaw has enjoyed a stellar season so far for United and yesterday's performance was a fitting reward. Earlier in the day Liverpool's travails continued as Fulham consigned Jürgen Klopp's men to a sixth straight loss at home. Afterwards Klopp said it wasn't a case that his players were lacking hunger but, in his column this morning, Ken Early writes that it is a fair question to ask whether the German has responded correctly to the extreme demands of this Covid-hit season. "Liverpool's pressing game needs a high defensive line. That's fine when you have Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez, but not so much when you have Rhys Williams and Nat Phillips. Klopp has persisted with the system, but without top central defenders the system no longer works. Maybe he needed to come up with another idea," he writes. In the final game of the weekend Spurs continued their resurgence thanks to a brace each for Harry Kane and Gareth Bale as they saw off Crystal Palace to continue a possible Champions League push.

Moving to rugby and Leinster and Munster booked their spots in the Pro14 final with wins at the weekend but both head coaches are likely to field weakened terms for the decider on March 27th given its' tricky rescheduling between the final weekend of the Six Nations and the resumption of the Champions Cup. In Leinster's win on Saturday, Ulster's Andrew Warwick was shown a red card for dangerous play – a decision which caused some controversy and one which Dan McFarland says he will be speaking to the referees' manager about.

Meanwhile, in his column this morning Malachy Clerkin is questioning why, a year into the Covid-19 pandemic and with clear evidence showing how little risk there is in outdoor sport, kids are still being denied a crucial outlet. "Sport is safe to play. Every sport in Ireland is chomping at the bit to get back going again. Every one of them is willing to jump through any and all hoops to make it happen. The Department of Sport in Dublin has had submissions from over 40 National Governing Bodies proposing how it can restart running sport for kids. These are serious people watching a generation of children drift away from sport," he writes.

Elsewhere, on International Women's Day, Joanne O'Riordan speaks to two-time Olympic gold medallist with Team USA, WNBA Hall of Famer and former Sacramento Monarchs player Ruthie Bolton about how basketball gave her the opportunity to use her voice.

Benefits of sport far outweigh the Covid risks so why are kids still not playing?

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Rory McIlroy needs ‘a spark’ as DeChambeau wins at Bay Hill

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Bale and Kane on target as Spurs see off Crystal Palace

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Raging Bull’s gut-wrenching violence is even more shocking today

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In golf, Bryson DeChambeau held off Lee Westwood to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill as Rory McIlroy again came undone in the final round with two balls in the water on the sixth putting paid to his chances. Afterwards the four-time Major winner, who defends his title at TPC Sawgrass next week, said he feels he is lacking "a spark" at the moment. On the LPGA Tour, Leona Maguire recorded her best finish on US soil as a pro thanks to a strong finish at the Drive On Championship where Austin Ernst took the title.

Finally, in our film series, Johnny Watterson looks back on Raging Bull and how the gut wrenching violence is even more shocking today while Mary Hannigan writes that, despite not winning any medals, the Irish athletes at the weekend's European Athletics Championships paid fitting tribute to the late Jerry Kiernan.