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Kari Tulinius gets in touch: “PSG v Lyon, with both on 14 points at the top of Ligue 1, is a big game, true. But the other two sides that came into the weekend on 14 points, Monaco and Lille, will also meet today. Rennes, on 13, are also in action. Even hardened PSG fans don’t want Ligue 1 to turn into another Bundesliga, where a non-Bayern team wins the title once a decade. We’ll start finding out today whether any club is equipped to challenge PSG. If I had to take a wild guess, I’d say Rennes and Monaco look like the most complete teams, but it’s still early.”
Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois will miss the game at Barcelona on Sunday as he has bout of flu. Andriy Lunin is in line to replace Courtois in goal at Camp Nou.
Krishna gets in touch: “Language matters. Carrick could have easily said Man United is a team that I manage well. But he denies they are unmanageable. A double negative is jot the same as a positive, right? He can as well say I refuse to deny that the team is unmanageable or ungovernable but I would be not telling the truth and leave the whome press corps scratching their head “
Liverpool game goes ahead amid storm fears
Liverpool’s game with Brighton is ON. Club statement here.
Due to the very windy weather, please take care if you are travelling to either game, plan your journey in advance and give yourself extra time. Club stewards will be on hand at both stadiums to assist supporters – please follow their guidance when you arrive. We wish you safe travels and we look forward to welcoming you to Anfield.
Bad vibes at Burnley, particularly for Nicky Hayen.
Burnley Football Club has dismissed head coach Nicky Hayen with immediate effect. The board has taken the decision following a disappointing start to the Championship season.
Today’s WSL action:
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Crystal Palace v Chelsea (12pm)
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Birmingham City v Charlton Athletic
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Everton v Aston Villa (2pm) Sky Sports
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Liverpool v London City Lionesses (2pm)
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Man Utd v Man City (6pm) Sky Sports Football
Joshua Keeling has been on: “As a United fan, all I can think is: here we go again. Will Carrick be brave enough to drop Fernandes? He probably should, as a point of principle, especially after his point about the values of the club – which Fernandes’ outburst was definitely not in line with. At the same time, though, will he drop the man most likely to save his job? Who knows.
”I can see another Bournemouth win at Old Trafford today, and Carrick to be gone before Chelsea away next week. I want Eddie Howe. Let’s see what happens.”
Dave Estherby gets in touch: “You could argue that after all he achieved at Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson can do as pleases. However, Roy Keane’s “hanging around like a bad smell” comment, although a tad disrespectful, is looking increasingly close to the mark. Why is Carrick still leaning on him for advice? Ferguson is in his mid-eighties and sadly ailing; he really shouldn’t be anywhere near the club these days. Moyes, Mourinho, Giggs and Solskjaer all made the same mistake, it really is time to move on.
“Lest we forget, it was SAF’s fallout with the owners over a nag that started all of this, to say nothing of the fact he was already on the slide in his final season; Utd’s midfield in 12/13 consisting of such luminaries as Antonio Valencia, Anderson and Tom Cleverley.
“A clean break is needed.”
Huge WSL win for Arsenal and Renee Slegers on Saturday.
At a rain-lashed Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Gunners were again their own worst enemy, forced to come from behind after Cathinka Tandberg’s headed opener. Georgia Stanway levelled and Russo powered in the penalty that gave them the lead they protected defiantly.
As attentions turn to Camp Nou later, a roundup of European action from Saturday.
In France, PSG v Lyon strikes as a big match, with no Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, on the long road back from a cruciate injury.
Aintree Racecourse has confirmed today’s race meeting has been cancelled due to high winds. Will that mean Liverpool v Brighton is called off?
The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for wind in Liverpool and Merseyside due to Storm Boelo, which remains active through today until 9:00 PM on Sunday, October 25, 2026
Mikel Arteta did not take well to being booked in the defeat of Everton.
“I do have to be careful. They should put sensors there/ There are managers who have the record in the league, 36 times in 10 minutes [they] leave the touchline – no yellows.
“I am clipping all of that so I have now a massive storage of images, so if somebody comes to me I can say, ‘I am not in the record yet’. Somebody else has the record so let’s see. Then it’s 36 yellow cards in 10 minutes for the managers. I don’t know what we are going to do – let’s see.”
Some post-match reaction for that rare Tottenham win at Chelsea.
Roberto De Zerbi hopes that Spurs can use this victory as a springboard. “Why not?” the Spurs manager said. “There is no reason why not. I can’t understand why we have to ask this question. Because we won two games in a row. But we didn’t win nothing. We want to improve, improve and improve, to be better game by game, week by week. I think we have suffered enough.”
Anyone here seen Tom Finney play? He retired in 1960.
I’m so ancient I actually saw Stanley Matthews play.
I was 8, he was about 48. Didn’t run around much, but did a lot of dribbling..
It’s Ballon D’Or, Ballon D’Or, Ballon D’Or, Ballon D’Or week, and Stanley Matthews week, too. Two wizards of the dribble in Ed Aarons and Jonathan Wilson on Sir Stan’s legacy.
The switch of venue to England from its usual home in Paris is a mark of respect to the man who became the first active player to receive a knighthood in 1965, a few months before retiring at the age of 50. It also provides an opportunity to recall an astonishing career that began with his local side Stoke in 1932 and made the “Wizard of Dribble” the most famous player on the planet.
Still, the choice of Stanley Matthews, from today’s perspective, looks odd. While it is true Blackpool had finished second in the First Division in 1956, but they were 11 points behind Manchester United and had gone out of the FA Cup in the third round. Was there not a case for Duncan Edwards or Tommy Taylor? Or for Bert Trautmann, the goalkeeper who won the Football Writers’ player of the year in 1956 after playing on with a broken neck in the final as Manchester City lifted the Cup?
Ben Bloom took in a trip to Swindon.
This time last week, there was a thought that Saturday’s M4 derby homecoming trip to Bristol Rovers might hasten a possible end to Holloway’s Swindon tenure. Winless in eight games in all competitions, the discontent was not expected to abate on the preceding midweek trip to high-flying Barnet. The 3-1 victory that followed – Barnet’s first league defeat of the season – was a huge shock, thanks in no small part to the heroics of the goalkeeper, Connor Ripley, who recently declared the whole squad would “run through a brick wall” for Holloway.
Saturday’s Premier League action, all our reports collected here.
‘No, no’: Carrick denies Manchester United are unmanageable
When Michael Carrick was asked if he can trust the players to deliver against Bournemouth at Old Trafford given the last week, under-pressure Carrick said: “I definitely trust them, yeah, 100 per cent I trust them. It wasn’t a very good night at all for so many reasons. We all know that. I think that’s pretty obvious. I definitely trust them, yeah. I trust them. We’ll be a different team on Sunday. We have to be a different team on Sunday.”
Asked if he felt that the team and club are unmanageable, as some have suggested, Carrick retorted: “No, no”.
He then spoke of his relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson and Ole Gunnar Solskjær, for whom he was key player and assistant coach. “I speak to both of them quite regularly, to be honest. There’s nothing in particular from that. I’m close to both of them and we do have regular conversations, so it’s nothing different this week.”
On Bruno Fernandes: “I think you’ve got to be careful with just saying ‘not running’,” he said. “As I said, we’ve won a lot of games over a period of time and this pressing thing, that suddenly everyone thinks about pressing.
“Pressing is one small part of football. There’s all sorts of different ways of what people are classed as a press. What actually is it? What you’re doing it for? Is it to your strength? Is it covering up other spaces? It’s just thrown about as a bit of a word at the minute of pressing.
“You don’t necessarily need to press to win games of football. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t.”
So then, Manchester United. Jamie Jackson considers the possible options for Michael Carrick.
Fernandes’s open questioning of the tactics is a challenge to the head coach’s authority and we wait to see how/if Carrick will face it down. If Carrick acts and proves he is not a lame duck then even if he is removed a favour is done for his successor.
Preamble
Good morning football, here for our Sunday service, on a busy day of action in the Premier League. A huge afternoon for Michael Carrick as Bournemouth travel to Manchester United.
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Crystal Palace v Newcastle, 2pm
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Hull v Brentford, 2pm
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Liverpool v Brighton, 2pm
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Manchester United v Bournemouth, 2pm
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Sunderland v Leeds, 4.30pm
Later tonight, at 8pm, it’s Barcelona v Real Madrid
In the meantime, here is Barney Ronay’s column on … a resurgent Spurs side from Stamford Bridge.
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