The key signs that point to uncertainty in Pep Guardiola's mind after Man City were served shock reality check at Southampton, writes JACK GAUGHAN
Usually by now it's all settled with a similar pattern. Usually everybody at Manchester City knows where they stand and routines happen that you could set your watch to.
Vincent Kompany making coaches roll their eyes by miraculously recovering from constant injuries to feature in every game before trophy lifts; previously out-of-favour Nathan Ake becoming indispensable at full back; one big-name midfielder finding himself watching from the bench during the run-in.
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Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Footy great Dermott Brereton reveals secret health battle that is making even simple daily tasks impossible
AFL legend Dermott Brereton has delivered an emotional account of the lifelong toll football has taken on his body, revealing he now struggles to perform even the simplest tasks like putting on shoes or shaking hands. The five-time premiership forward spoke candidly at the Melbourne Cricket Club during the Norm Smith Oration, detailing his painful daily challenges caused by a career built on fearless, physical football. The man who once played through shattered ribs now needs help tying his laces. 'I pathetically allow myself to become melancholy and even teary,' he admitted. 'Some mornings my beautiful partner Julie has to put on my shoes and socks for me. 'With the pain in my spine, where they inserted a cage, I can't reach.' Brereton revealed he sometimes cries from the physical toll football has taken on his body His body, once built to absorb contact and punishment, now resists everyday movement. 'Some days I have to walk down the stairs sideways. I haven't had cartilage in my knees for 40 years.' Brereton, 59, became a Hawthorn icon during the club's dominant 1980s era, playing from 1982 to 1992. He was known for his flamboyance and aggression, famously playing through broken ribs in the 1989 VFL Grand Final. That trademark fearlessness won him respect and five premierships—but it came at great physical cost. 'Some days I can't shake hands with other men,' he said. 'If they do, I fear they'll re-open the broken bones in my hands.' Reconstructed ankles, damaged shoulders, and arthritic joints now define his day-to-day life. 'Some days I crab my way down the stairs because my ankle won't flex anymore,' he added. Brereton's speech combined humour and heartbreak as he recalled his upbringing in Frankston and rise to stardom. He shared the stage with Essendon great Tim Watson, whose light-hearted stories brought laughter to balance the emotion. 'To be honest with you, Tim, those [mid-'80s] battles took you to the edge of safety,' Brereton said. 'And for me, that is always where you get the best view of life.' He admitted to using powerful anti-inflammatories for decades—Indocin, Brufen, and Voltaren—which left him with ongoing stomach issues. 'Some nights I sleep very little because of the arthritis in my shoulder joints,' he said. That joint damage stemmed from years of heavy weight training to survive the demands of centre half-forward. In perhaps the most revealing moment, Brereton questioned whether it was all worth it. 'I often ask myself… in that moment of weakness—was it worth it?' His answer: 'I'd do it all over again, exactly the same. Maybe next time, I might go a little harder.' He recalled receiving regular epidurals just to keep playing during his peak years. 'In '86-89, I'd go to Vimy House after games for an epidural. I'd lie in bed all day, then head home.' Post-retirement, Brereton moved into media and was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1999. He acknowledged football had given him discipline, fame, romance, wealth, employment, and friendships. But it also took something dear: his long-term physical independence. 'It's also taken away something very dear to me,' he said. La Trobe University data, cited by the AFL Players' Association, shows 76 per cent of past players suffered serious injuries. Of those, 64 per cent say those injuries still affect their daily lives. Since 2017, more than 1150 past players have received reimbursements for joint and dental surgeries.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Ange Postecoglou's wild ride ends at Spurs after steering Australia back to the big time
Ange Postecoglou took Tottenham Hotspur on the wildest of rides. A record-breaking run to begin his first Premier League campaign in charge. An injury-riddled slump that led Spurs to within sight of relegation the next season. A promise to win a trophy in his second year. The club's first piece of silverware since 2008. The sack coming just 16 days later. All-out attack. Defensive dare. Stirring late comebacks. Calamitous and costly goals conceded at the death. No score was safe. No Spurs supporter, let alone pundit, was left without an entrenched view of his capabilities as a coach. No football fan, whether in north London or as far away as Australia, dared to look away. The hair-raising adventure is one that Australian football fans have been on before. During Postecoglou's time in charge of the men's national team, as the Socceroos failed to earn a point in a horror group at the 2014 World Cup but rallied to win the Asian Cup the following year. When the coach had earlier led Brisbane Roar to a pair of A-League championships, and later won the J1 League with Yokohama and five trophies with Scottish giants Celtic. A manic press in attack. A high line in defence. Goals at both ends. Peaks and troughs across each game, let alone during a full campaign. A rollercoaster ride has always been part of the Postecoglou experience. Taking the show on the road to Japan and Scotland sparked fresh Australian interest in Postecoglou's teams and those leagues. But bringing it to the Premier League has steered Australia back to the big time. Not since the days when Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka graced the main stage have Australians been given such a solid reason to support a second English team. As fans relished watching Postecoglou rattle the football establishment, Tottenham Hotspur became the hottest club in his distant homeland. A whirlwind stirred up around a brash foreign manager arriving in the Premier League is nothing new. A laconic Australian demeanour and press conferences peppered with gratuitous use of the term 'mate' – while otherwise doing little to conceal a hard edge and stubborn confidence – left fans as much as the media hanging off his every word, while his compatriots were warmed by a sense of pride. The 59-year-old has been unwavering in his ideals, for better or worse, throughout his coaching journey. Postecoglou is not just comfortable dividing opinion. He often appears to go out of his way to hammer a wedge through it. But whether Spurs' ruthless decision to axe a coach who led the club to a European title just 16 days earlier is the right call is much less clear and will remain one up for debate. After a fifth-place finish in the Premier League, just two points and one spot short of a ticket to the Champions League, Postecoglou this season guided Spurs to their worst top-flight finish in more than a century. Did Spurs pay a heavy price for their commitment to an intense style that caused the heart of the side to be ripped out through injury? Or was the coach handed a poisoned chalice with a thin squad relying too much on talented youth to compete on multiple fronts and then go all-in on a knockout competition in the chase for silverware? Whether or not their Premier League campaign was truly allowed to just wither away, as Postecoglou has since suggested, Spurs found a back door to the lucrative continental competition on an emotion-charged night in Bilbao. 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Another divisive coach in José Mourinho was let go in the week leading into the 2021 League Cup decider. Here is further proof that winning a trophy isn't necessarily everything in the high stakes world of football, or even just enough to save a coach's job. Spurs will now have another new manager for the Super Cup against Paris Saint-Germain in August, and never find out whether season three under Postecoglou would have been better than season two. Postecoglou has arrived at a new coaching frontier after being sent packing while still under contract. Where he lands next, whether looking to right any perceived wrongs back in the Premier League or as a breath of fresh air elsewhere in Europe, we can be sure that he will take his principles with him and that Australian football fans will follow.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Hong keeps focus on World Cup after successful end to fraught campaign
June 7 (Reuters) - South Korea coach Hong Myung-bo sought to focus on his team's preparations for next year's World Cup rather than the fraught campaign that eventually ended with the country celebrating qualification for an 11th consecutive finals. A 2-0 victory over Iraq in Basra on Thursday confirmed South Korea's progress as one of two automatic qualifiers from Group B of Asia's preliminaries, and came 11 months on from Hong's controversial reappointment as head coach. "It's an opportunity for us to test young guys who may be able to play at the World Cup next year," Hong said of Tuesday's remaining qualifier against Kuwait in Seoul. "We won't have too many opportunities like this. It's one thing for those guys to watch from the bench, and quite another for them to play." Ex-national team captain Hong returned for a second spell in charge in July last year after a series of caretakers had been appointed following Juergen Klinsmann's underwhelming tenure, the German leaving in the aftermath of South Korea's Asian Cup elimination. The 56-year-old's appointment was greeted by protests among hardcore fans, many mindful of the team's performance under Hong at the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, when a highly-fancied squad crashed out in the group phase. Relations with supporters were further damaged by early struggles in qualifying, with players booed off the field in Seoul following an opening 0-0 draw with Palestine in September. That showing was one of several that highlighted the team's issues on native soil. While Hong's side are unbeaten across the nine matches played so far in the third phase of qualifying, the Koreans have won just one of four matches at home. The poor quality of the pitches used was blamed by players for their underwhelming performances and was another reason tensions increased between the country's football hierarchy and the support base. Despite those issues, qualification means the Koreans will extend a run of unbroken World Cup appearances that stretches back to 1986, with Hong now charged with building his squad for the challenge that lies ahead in North America. That will mean giving opportunities to less experienced performers as he looks for long-term options to stalwarts such as Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min and Hwang Hee-chan of Wolverhampton Wanderers. "From this moment on, everything we do will be geared toward preparing for the World Cup," said Hong.
