Brady facing a Keane crunch
ROBBIE BRADY fears a rollicking rather than praise the next time he sees Republic of Ireland No 2 Roy Keane.
Brady’s delight at scoring a superb free-kick on his Burnley debut against Chelsea on Sunday was tempered by his scrappy overall display that led to him being taken off after 64 minutes.
Brady, a £13 million signing from Norwich, knew Keane was in the crowd on a scouting trip ahead of next month’s internationals, and said: “I’m sure he’ll have words with me about the performance but he’ll be happy enough with the goal.
“That was something you dream about but not the performance. I wasn’t fantastic – but I’m still learning the way the lads play.
“I’m over the moon with the goal and I’ll take it if the lads can cover me on the mistakes I made. Joey Barton told me, ‘I’ve no problem doing your running if you can keep scoring like that!’
“But I’m here to work hard and show what I’m about.” SWANSEA winger Nathan Dyer, left, has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a ruptured Achilles tendon – less than three months after returning to first-team action. Dyer, 29, only recovered in November from an ankle injury which forced him to miss most of the start of the campaign. He made just a third league start against his old club Leicester on Sunday before limping off after seven minutes and will undergo surgery.
LEAGUE ONE bottom club Coventry, who are 10 points adrift of safety, have signed former Everton striker Yakubu, 34, on a short-term deal. IT MAY well be too little too late, but Manchester City showed that they can tough it out on a cold night on the South Coast – and keep the Premier League title race alive.
Pep Guardiola’s team cut Chelsea’s lead at the top to eight points with this win on a night when Sergio Aguero came off the bench to prove a point to his manager.
He pounced on Raheem Sterling’s cross – the final touch going in off Tyrone Mings for an own-goal – to seal a win that had been set up by Sterling’s 29th-minute opener.
Aguero had once again been frozen out, but the Argentinian got his break when whizzkid Brazilian teenager Gabriel Jesus was injured early on, and he took it. That OctoberNovember slump may still have cost City dear this season. But AT THE VITALITY STADIUM