2GS The Sunday Times February 13, 2022 17
‘United under
Rangnick have not
moved forward
one bit since
sacking Solskjaer’
of the team, when is the right time
to bring him back? Two games, four
games, six games? What would be
the period to do it?
“So he played. It will not make
any other game any easier. But I
could think of other people in other
walks of life who make mistakes
and sometimes, nowadays, it seems
apologies are not enough to clear
things up. And he has apologised.”
He is also basing his stance on
what he has heard and seen when
talking to Zouma and looking him
in the eye.
“He keeps repeating to me, ‘I’m
really, really sorry for what has
happened’, for what he has
brought on to the club and on to me
as well. But as I say, what do you
do? All of us in life need a second
chance sometimes and we’re going
to give Kurt a second chance.”“He knows he has made a
mistake and his family know they
have made a mistake [Zouma’s
brother, Yoan, filmed his cat’s
mistreatment and put it on social
media]. But...the big thing for me
was how long do we leave him out
Zouma has been full of remorse
since the incident came to light
I subscribed to Now TV’s sports
package the other day. It meant
forking out a galling £35 or so extra a
month, but it was worth it because
this football season is unmissable.
I’m not referring to the Premier
League of course, but to American
football.
Almost every game on the road to
tonight’s Cincinnati Bengals v LA
Rams Super Bowl has been a thriller.
Every contest in the quarter-finals of
the play-offs went down to the wire
and was decided by the final score. A
humdrum team like the Bengals
reaching the Super Bowl is the kind
of odds-defying storyline you seldom
see in the Premier League.
America is riveted by its national
sport. England, not so much. I’m
afraid the poor old Premier League is
falling behind. There has been the
odd firework this season, Liverpool v
Man City in October was memorable,
but generally speaking it’s the same
old story. The same heavyweights
queueing up for the Champions
League spots; the fat cats at City
cantering to another easy title,
barring a total collapse. A scrap over
fourth perhaps, the usual scramble to
avoid relegation, but nothing to tell
the grandkids about.
Football has become a little dull.
Because of the spiritual devotion of
its vast fanbase, the game is too
conservative and we treat it more like
a religion than an entertainment
product. The furious response to the
(admittedly botched) European
Super League proposal last year
showed that the Premier League has
come to resemble the NHS, a morally
untouchable national treasure,
rather than a tournament that is
supposed to be fun. Historically,
football in England has largely sold
itself. But in a world of many
distractions — Fortnite, TikTok,
Netflix — it can no longer afford to
rest on its laurels.
The NFL is far from perfect — head
injuries, bloated advert breaks,
generally psychopathic violence —
but as a fan product it’s both fairer
and more entertaining. With that in
mind, here are some proposals for
reviving the beautiful game.Play-offs
The obvious problem that domestic
English football has is an absence of
high-stakes knockout games, which
generate extraordinary drama and
surprise. That’s why the FA Cup used
to be so beloved.
A play-off tournament at the end of
the season would address this. Many
fans groaned when Rugby union
introduced play-offs in 2003, but
they have since become an exciting
conclusion to the domestic season.
Similarly, the lower leagueMy plan to inject NFL-style
drama into our dull game
Quarterback Joe Burrow has led the Cincinnati Bengals to the Super Bowl
AMERICAN FOOTBALL
JOSH
GLANCY
‘Because of the
spiritual devotion
of its vast fanbase,
English fotball is
too conservative’
promotion play-offs routinely deliver
some of the most thrilling occasions
in the football calendar. And, of
course, just look at the NFL.
The predictability of the Premier
League is a given at this point — it
regularly fizzles out. But why should
it stay this way? Changing the
financial structures of the game
would be difficult, but one way to
counterbalance the irresistible depth
of City’s billionaire squad would be to
expose them to the jeopardy of a
knockout tournament. Of course, the
league is the purest way to determine
the best team in the country. But is it
the most entertaining? Surely not.Fewer games, more breaks
We ask too much of our elite
footballers. That may sound like an
odd thing to say about a group of
blokes paid millions a year to kick a
ball about, but their regular and
obvious exhaustion diminishes the
game for all of us.The NFL has 17 regular season
games with a bye week. Obviously it’s
a much more physical game and
burnout levels are still high. But
trimming the football schedule,
introducing a proper break and
lightening the burden on our top
players would surely be a net benefit.
Watching Manchester United over
the past few years, as I’ve had the
misfortune to do, it’s been obvious
that the likes of Bruno Fernandes and
Marcus Rashford have at times been
ground down by overexposure. By
January 2021, there were four United
players who had already gone past
the 2,000-minute mark for that
season. Trust me, it showed.Scrap the Carabao Cup
We don’t need two domestic cup
competitions, which diminish each
other’s value. The FA Cup has all the
history and the emotional heft, so
scrap the Carabao Cup, at least for
the top flight. Few would mourn its
absence. Less is more.A European Super League
I realise merely uttering these words
is now heretical, but hear me out.
The Super League plan launched by
top European clubs last year was ill-
considered and poorly delivered. But
the impulse behind it remains and is
inspired in no small part by the
success of the NFL. If properly
devised, with promotion and
relegation and not just a closed shop
for the big boys, then it could
represent a welcome upgrade to the
Champions League. Would it be so
bad watching City and Liverpool
clash with Barcelona and Bayern
Munich on a regular basis?A timeout option
Part of what makes close NFL games
so exciting is clock management;
coaches and players are able to
calibrate their comebacks perfectly
by using timeouts to regroup and
stop the clock. Obviously football is
more rhythmic, but the opportunity
for a 90-second pep talk and tactical
overhaul at a crucial moment could
introduce more game-changing
interventions. It would certainly
make a change from managers
impotently screaming themselves
hoarse in the technical area.FOR THE MANY NOT THE FEW?
New England Patriots 6
Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
Baltimore Ravens, New York Giants,
Pittsburgh Steelers 2Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles,
Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks,
Green Bay Packers, New Orleans Saints,
Indianapolis Colts, St. Louis Rams 1Super Bowl titles since 2000
Manchester United 8
Chelsea, Manchester City 5
Arsenal 2
Leicester City, Liverpool 1
Premier League titles since 2000
are having a tough time of it and
Villarreal showed by winning the
Europa League last season that they
know how to get through over two
legs in a knockout competition.
Having worked there, I know
Benfica are a great club, and on a
European night the crowd get right
behind them. If they can get on top of
you, they will stay on top of you and
score goals.
Ajax are still a young team, so it’s a
hard one to call because you could
see the home team dominating in
both legs. They are both selling clubs
in the context of the Champions
League. Getting out the group stage is
success for them. Of course, with
their history as previous winners,
they will both want to do better than
that, but they are competing against
clubs with enormous budgets.and I reckon it will be the same story
at United because he’s playing in a
team struggling for continuity and
consistency.
TWO TIES THAT ARE TOO
TOUGH TO CALL
Villarreal against Juventus and
Benfica against Ajax are the toughest
ties to call in the round of 16. Juventus
2015
Barcelona 3-1 Juventus
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