KP’s whine won’t wash
KEVIN PIETERSEN, when not tweeting pictures of an expensive wine he was about to enjoy or complaining about the lack of live TV on his first class flight, decided to rubbish the idea England were now playing for pride in Australia.
He has a point. The Ashes have gone but don’t think Australia did not want to rub England noses in the dirt.
Pietersen (left) should know, having been in two whitewash series defeats Down Under.
Resisting that humiliation has to be a matter of pride, surely?
His remarks are perhaps an indication that while few had more pride in doing his job well than KP, there were plenty who had more pride in representing their country.
MOANING about the festive programme has become almost as tiring as the schedule itself.
It is not going to change, but one thing that surely has to be altered is the two-legged EFL Cup semi-finals.
We want our Premier League clubs to have the best possible chance in the Champions League, yet this season two of them face a needless big game in the month before their European ties.
Elite clubs have the resources to cope, but let’s give them a little help now and again.
WELL done, Harry Kane, but here’s how seriously ‘calendar year records’ should be taken. Up until a few weeks ago, Alan Shearer had probably never thought about the concept – and there’s no one more aware of his own statistics than Shearer.
PS: As my Mirror colleague Mike Walters pointed out on Twitter, Dixie Dean once scored 85 goals in a calendar year. WEDNESDAY night at St James’ Park was a strange one. Uplifting and dispiriting in equal measure.
It is thrilling to watch Manchester City set records, but deflating to watch Newcastle United not want possession of the football. In their own stadium. In front of 50,000 of their own fans.
That the plan of Rafa Benitez (right) had a sniff of working was solely down to City’s unusual wastefulness in front of goal.
Yes, the gulf between the two clubs in everything – apart from local fanbase – is enormous, but it just felt wrong.
It felt wrong that a great club with the cavalier traditions of Newcastle should, even only temporarily, become champions of antifootball.