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Jonathan Cook’s World Game Wrap-Up

Posted on | Posted by Jonathan Cook

VAR – the gift that keeps on giving

The introduction of Video Assistant Referees to the English Premier League hasn’t made it easier to understand football but it has created a great deal of debate, discussion, frustration and, sometimes, anger.

You only had to watch the first 10 seconds of the clash between Chelsea and Liverpool to get the point.

In the very first aerial challenge, Liverpool’s Sadio Mane raised an arm that connected solidly with the head of Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta. Mane received a yellow card from the referee and the VAR decided no further action was needed.

Azpilicueta had no doubt it should have been a red card, as did many experts, including former England striker Alan Shearer and ex-Liverpool and Scotland hardman Graeme Souness. Another former Liverpool player, Jamie Carragher, also found it difficult to find in favour of his old club when he described it as an “orange” offence.

Predictably, Liverpool’s current captain Jordan Henderson backed Mane by claiming a yellow card had been harsh.

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel was still fuming about the decision when Mane opened the scoring for Liverpool just nine minutes later. Another wonderful Mo Salah goal gave Liverpool a 2-0 lead but Chelsea were level before the break through Mateo Kovacic’s stunning volley and a stoppage-time finish from Christian Pulisic.

The 2-2 draw wasn’t a great help to either side in their respective title challenges.

Stumbling City tighten their grip

Is it time to stop pretending the English Premier League will be won by anyone other than Manchester City this season?

There is still a long way to go but City’s unconvincing 2-1 win over Arsenal will concern, rather than please, their title rivals Liverpool and Chelsea. At their very best, City cut through opponents and score goals for fun, as they did in August when Arsenal were beaten 5-0 in Manchester.

The evidence on New Year’s Day was that even when they are not at their best, they still get the job done.

Arsenal had been excellent in the first half and had an appeal for a penalty turned down before Bukayo Saka gave them a deserved lead.

In the second half, City benefited from a VAR decision that led to a penalty scored by Riyad Mahrez before Arsenal’s Gabriel was sent off for a second bookable offence with more than half an hour to play. City eventually found a way through when Rodri poked the ball home three minutes into stoppage time to earn an 11th successive Premier League victory.

City are 10 points clear of second-placed Chelsea and 11 ahead of Liverpool, who have played one game fewer.

If the mark of a champion team is winning when not playing as well as they can, there may be no way of City’s rivals making up the lost ground.

Emotional Bielsa shows signs of relief

Manager Marcelo Bielsa’s long embrace of his assistant Pablo Quiroga underlined the importance of Leeds United’s 3-1 win over Burnley.

Rarely animated or overly emotional in celebration, Bielsa held Quiroga tightly on the sidelines after Dan James’ stoppage-time header had sealed a win that lifted Leeds eight points clear of the relegation positions.

The victory snapped a sequence of three losses and a draw that had dragged Leeds dangerously close to the drop zone.

Defeat for Burnley left Sean Dyche’s side third from bottom and without a win in their past seven matches.

Victory was no more than Leeds deserved with goals from Jack Harrison and Stuart Dallas, either side of Maxwel Cornet’s free-kick for Burnley, before James’ sealer.

Clubs turn to Plan B as stars head to Africa

English Premier League managers will be forced to turn to alternative plans during January as key players head to Cameroon to take part in the Africa Cup of Nations.

English Premier League clubs must release players to their national teams today (January 3) for a tournament that runs from January 9 to February 6.

This will leave some teams without their star players during an important time of the season, including the likes of Liverpool’s Mo Salah (Egypt) and Sadio Mane (Senegal), Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy (Senegal) and Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez (Algeria).

International duty at the Africa Cup of Nations is expected to impact on 16 of the 20 English Premier League clubs.

Lanzini latest contributor to wonder goal collection

There is a wonder goal scored somewhere in the world almost every week – and Manuel Lanzini’s stunner for West Ham United against Crystal Palace is right up there with the best of them.

The twinkle-toed midfielder danced past Joachim Andersen with three quick touches before thumping the ball home in the Hammers’ 3-2 win.

In the same game, Crystal Palace goalkeeper Vicente Guaita produced his own special highlights reel with an astonishing triple save to prevent Michail Antonio and Said Benrahma from scoring.

Lukaku set for Tuchel showdown

Romelu Lukaku could find himself on the transfer list after telling an Italian media outlet he is unhappy with the situation at Chelsea.

Lukaku, who was signed from Inter Milan for a Chelsea club record fee of around AUD$190 million, was left out of the squad for the clash with Liverpool because of the comments.

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel is expected to meet with Lukaku to determine whether he will be involved in upcoming matches.

In the media interview, Lukaku said he was not happy with Tuchel’s tactics, which often mean Lukaku is left out of the team. He also said he hoped to return to Inter Milan in the future.

Reds make a happy start to New Year

Adelaide United will be hoping their start to the New Year signals a genuine change of fortunes.

After going five games without a win at the end of 2021, Carl Veart’s side decided New Years’ Day was the perfect time to end that streak with a 4-0 thrashing of Wellington Phoenix.

It was a game to remember for 16-year-old Adelaide goalkeeper Steven Hall, who made his A-League debut following an injury to James Delianov – and kept a clean sheet.

All six other A-League men’s games were postponed due to COVID-19 cases.

Ex-Glory striker watches history equalled

Former Perth Glory and Australian international striker Kate Gill was an interested spectator at a Liberty A-League match that turned out to have special significance for her.

Gill arrived late for the kick-off of Melbourne Victory’s match against Melbourne City on New Year’s Eve and missed the first two goals, which were scored in the opening 13 minutes.

It was only after the game when she saw that Hannah Wilkinson had scored all five goals in City’s 5-1 win. She also realised that Wilkinson’s effort had equalled Gill’s own record of most goals scored in a game, set while playing for Glory in 2014.

Meanwhile, Glory’s newest signing, Cyera Hintzen, wasted no time scoring her first goal for the club with a smart finish on her debut in the team’s 4-2 loss to Adelaide United. The Glory women’s team is fifth on the table.




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