Another Manchester United defeat and another eventful José Mourinho press conference. After Lucas Moura's brace was added to Harry Kane's opener at Old Trafford last night Tottenham came away with a third win from three Premier League games this season and consigned United to a second straight defeat. Afterwards Mourinho was in a bullish mood, telling the press that the fans are the best judges and that is why they remained and applauded the team for a good performance despite the loss. "Today the players left the pitch after losing at home and they were applauded, because they deserved it, so keep trying, and trying, and trying, and keep trying," he said. Meanwhile, on the international front, Declan Rice's future with Ireland was thrown into turmoil yesterday when he refused a call-up for the upcoming Nations League matches with Martin O'Neill confirming that the West Ham man has been in talks with England about representing them instead. Emmet Malone writes that this situation is becoming increasingly common in the modern international game and Rice should be given time to weigh up his options.
On to GAA and Jim McGuinness this morning looks back at the year and how football has very much played second fiddle to hurling over the summer. McGuinness says that simple rule changes could help the game move faster and free it from handpass hell. "Hurling is almost entirely played on the transition. Twenty years ago, if you take the hurls away, there wasn't all that much difference between hurling and football. Structurally, they were the same. Now, both games feel and look very different," he writes. Ahead of this Sunday's All-Ireland final between Dublin and Tyrone, Mickey Harte's team feel they have learned enough to take the final step and they are also determined to reap revenge on the Dubs for last year's semi-final hammering.
In golf the deadline for automatic qualification for the European Ryder Cup team is looming with the final qualifying event taking place in Denmark this week. With seven places already confirmed the eighth spot is up for grabs between Thorbjorn Olesen, Eddie Pepperell and Matt Fitzpatrick while Thomas Bjorn looks set to have quite the conundrum on his hands in picking his four wildcards, as Ruaidhrí Croke explains.
Last year Leinster achieved near perfection by winning both the Pro14 and Champions Cup titles but, for new back coach Felipe Contepomi, following the season up is not a pressure he is worried about. The former Leinster man says that his primary focus is helping players develop and that success will follow after that.
In tennis the US Open got underway yesterday with Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal both making it through to the second round although things were considerably more difficult for the Scot who returns to grand slam tennis after missing four consecutive majors. In the women's draw the path to Serena Williams' 24th grand slam title looks a little clearer after Simona Halep became the first top seed in the open era to go out in the first round.
