The Guardian’s extensive profile and Q&A with Arsène Wenger, legendary Arsenal manager.
“Arsenal had a style of play that was criticised, but there was a style of play,” he says. “I can understand that people want only to win, but you need to have the desire to transform the team expression into art. When the supporter wakes up in the morning, he has to think: ‘Oh, maybe I’ll have a fantastic experience today!’ He wants to win the game but as well to see something beautiful.”
Combining baseball and maps? Sign me up. The MLB has a plan to “improve” the MiLB system costs, standards, compensation, and other things through shuttering 42 ball clubs around the country. In this piece for FanGraphs, the authors use some GIS tactics to analyze how this shakes out for baseball fans falling within those markets:
So how many Americans would see their ability to watch affiliated baseball in person disappear under MLB’s proposal? And how many would see their primary point of access shift from the...
I didn’t get to watch the match live yesterday, but Liverpool’s 4-0 trouncing of Barcelona at Anfield in the second leg of the Champions League semi might be the biggest (most improbable) win I’ve seen. Goals from Origi at 7’ and 79’, Wijnaldum at 54’ and 56’, and a nerve-rattling final 10 minutes put the Reds over the top:
Coincidentally I ran across this piece from Ryan O’Hanlon earlier in the day that broke down Liverpool’s odds of a win thusly:
Gary Neville’s thoughts on the rumors of a Jose Mourinho firing:
The Premier League’s fickleness with management is astonishing. It would be unbelievable to see the same level of volatility and shortsightedness in other professional sports that you have in European football clubs. A United legend calling out the leadership of the club directly is incredible, but unfortunately it probably won’t change anything. I’m not a United fan, but I would love to see the club stick it out with Mourinho and to stop perpetuating the impatient...
The Premier League season is now a couple of months in, and the usual suspects are top of the table — City, Liverpool, Chelsea.
What I didn’t expect was Arsenal in the top four, especially after losing the first two weeks. Turns out new guy Unai Emery’s found his footing.
Arsenal have put up 9 wins in a row (all competitions: league, Carabao, Europa League, FA Cup). There have been some skeptics with the new squad and management, but Emery is well on his way to silencing them. The next few weeks look winnable on the schedule. Leicester, Sporting, Palace,...
He is the only player to have scored a hat-trick in the English Premier League, Championship, League One, League Two (or the divisions under their previous names), the League Cup, the FA Cup and for his country at International level.