touched the ball 14 times and had
zero shots. “It’s no secret that Marcus
is not having his best time right now,”
the manager said. “It has to do with
rhythm and confidence.”
Given that United’s run-in includes
away fixtures against Liverpool and
Arsenal and a meeting with Chelsea
at Old Trafford, they could finish in
eighth position — they are seventh at
present — which would rule them out
of European competition next season.
The atmosphere at Old Trafford is
likely to turn toxic if United fail to
perform in their last three home
games. A protest against the owners,
the Glazers, is planned for the final
match, against Chelsea on May 15.
Leicester, on the other hand, are
finishing strongly and have their eye
on Europa League qualification, either
by finishing seventh or by winning the
Europa Conference League.
“We can [qualify], especially when
you think we have four games in hand
on some teams,” Brendan Rodgers, the
manager, said. “It’s going to be a tall
order. But the most important thing is
to finish at the level we know that we
can play and that will be good for us
going into next season.”
the times | Monday April 4 2022 2GG 7
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Weekend talking points
It is about this time that
thoughts turn to choosing the
player of the season. This is always
done far too early, in my opinion.
No one should be making a decision
on this with the Premier League
title still up for grabs. But my choice
would be Raheem Sterling, and if
Manchester City go on to retain the
title he should be a dead cert.
Even before his outstanding
performances at the Euros, where
he was England’s player of the
tournament, Sterling was under
pressure for his place in the team,
for club and country, bizarrely.
He has not suffered from a
hangover from the summer either,
and despite the presence of the likes
of Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez,
Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish at
City, he has proved his worth. He
captained England in midweek
against Ivory Coast and scored a
goal too. Then, on Saturday for City,
he scared the life out of Burnley. At
times he is unplayable.
I asked Aston Villa’s Matty Cash
who the hardest player to face was,
and in a flash he said Sterling — he
is strong, quick and you don’t now
which way he is going to go, inside
or out. He is even harder to face
than Mohamed Salah.The Liverpool forward was
brilliant at the start of the season
but has looked out of sorts. He may
go on to have a big say in the title
race, of course, as may his team-
mates Diogo Jota and Trent
Alexander-Arnold. Declan Rice has
been outstanding for West Ham
United and I must give a nod to
Chelsea’s Antonio Rüdiger and
Thiago Silva. But for me the player
of the year still has to be Sterling.TEAM OF THE WEEKD Raya
J Gomez (Brentford)
(Liverpool)A Cresswell
(West Ham)H Maguire
(Man Utd)C Romero
(Tottenham)R Sterling
(Man City)D Jota
(Liverpool)H Kane
(Tottenham)B Mbeumo
(Brentford)J Moutinho
(Wolves)V Janelt
(Brentford)4-2-4Mbeumo finally makes
hay after opting to staySterling gets my shout
for footballer of the year
Plenty of praise will be rightly
heaped on Christian Eriksen
for his brilliant performance for
Brentford at Stamford Bridge but
for me, Bryan Mbeumo was their
man of the match.
His tireless pressing kept forcing
Chelsea’s defenders to return the
ball to Brentford, and it allowed
them to launch their attacks.
Mbeumo first caught my eye as a
promising youngster at Troyes in
France and after moving to west
London he was part of Brentford’s
“BMW” front line, with Said
Benrahma and Ollie Watkins.
The departures of his team-
mates, to West Ham United and
Aston Villa respectively, seemed
to affect him and he was not as
effective last season, but he has
developed a superb understanding
with Ivan Toney. Chelsea just did
not know how to handle those two.Burnley could have had
the edge in City turf warBefore a World Cup qualifier
for Ireland against Spain in
1989, Jack Charlton told the
groundsman not to cut the grass at
Lansdowne Road. The idea was to
prevent Spain from playing their
style of football however we could.
We won the game 1-0.
I was reminded of that game on
Saturday when I saw the apparently
pristine surface at Turf Moor, where
Burnley lost 2-0 to Manchester
City. It was their tenth successive
defeat by the champions, with the
aggregate score over those meetings
34-1 in City’s favour.
I’m not saying Burnley should
have served up a quagmire — and
their grass was almost as long as
Premier League regulations allow
— but I couldn’t help thinking that
by presenting City with a less
obliging surface they might have
levelled the playing field a little bit.Emergence of Romero
ends long wait for SpursTottenham Hotspur’s
goalscoring defenders may
have stolen the headlines in the 5-1
win over Newcastle United but it
was one who didn’t get on the
scoresheet that stood out for me.
Cristian Romero was outstanding,
showing composure and calm on
the ball. The Argentina centre back
comes from the same mould as
Chelsea’s Thiago Silva. Since the
loss of Jan Vertonghen and Toby
Alderweireld, Spurs have struggled
to find someone to fill that position.
Well, they have now.Faltering United are in
need of rude awakeningWhoever takes over at
Manchester United needs to
overhaul the squad — and dish out
a few home truths to those who
remain. It has been too easy for too
long at Old Trafford. Ralf Rangnick
was right to criticise the club’s
recruitment over the past eight
years. When United get dragged
into a contest — as they were by
Leicester City on Saturday — they
lack fight, and the manager seems
unable to inspire them. United are
still in the top-four hunt but it feels
like their season is petering out.Harry Maguire,
left, and David
de Gea talk
shop during
United’s draw
with LeicesterNAOMI BAKER/GETTY IMAGESVan Gaal battling prostate cancer
Louis van Gaal revealed last night
that he has been diagnosed with
prostate cancer, but the Holland
coach still plans to lead his team at
the World Cup finals in Qatar in
seven months’ time.
The players “don’t know it”, the
70-year-old told RTL television,
adding that he has already undergone
25 bouts of radiotherapy, including in
the evening during training camps
with the national team.
On why he had not told the
members of his squad, Van Gaal said:
“I think you don’t tell people you
work with like that because it might
influence their choices, their
decisiveness, so I thought they
shouldn’t know.
“You don’t die from prostate cancer,
at least not in 90 per cent of the
cases. It is usually other underlying
diseases that kill you. But I had a
pretty aggressive form [and] got
irradiated 25 times. Then you have a
lot of management to do in order to
go through life. I did have preferentialtreatment in the hospital. I was
allowed in through the back door
when I went to an appointment and
was immediately pushed into another
room. I’ve been treated wonderfully.”
The former Manchester United
manager was talking during an
interview marking the release of a
film about his life, entitled Louis.
United last night tweeted a message
of support for Van Gaal.
Van Gaal is in his third term as
head coach of the national side after
spells in 2000-01 and 2012-14. He
sparked controversy last month when
he described the decision to hold the
World Cup in Qatar as “ridiculous”,
accusing Fifa of having been
motivated solely by “money and
commercial interests”.
Last week, it was announced that
Van Gaal had tested positive for
Covid. In 2021, he broke a hip when
he fell off his bike. Holland were
placed in Group A with the host
Qatar, Ecuador and Senegal in the
draw for the World Cup.