WHAT’S HOT WHAT’S NOT
HOT JACK BUTLAND
STOKE were in raptures about new signing Jese after victory against Arsenal and rightly so, but it was their young goalkeeper who did most to ensure that Mark Hughes’ team won the game. Butland made three or four outstanding saves and should be allowed to stake his claim as England’s No 1 against Malta and Slovakia.
ANTONIO CONTE
THE Chelsea manager’s ability to organise and motivate was to the fore as his team beat Tottenham — but lost among the analysis was a small detail. Conte’s appearance on the touchline in tracksuit recently was, he said, because his smart suits have been in storage in Italy during a house move. In Italy? Further evidence that Conte really was unsure about staying at Stamford Bridge after last season’s Premier League triumph.
NEIL WARNOCK
CARDIFF’S rise to the top of the Championship has given chairman Vincent Tan more opportunity to snipe at the last — and only — manager to take his club into the Premier League, Malky Mackay. It’s a shame that every positive step the Welsh club takes comes laced with poison when it would be easier to simply acknowledge that Warnock (above), a renowned Championship specialist, is again doing what he does best.
NOT JOE MARLER
THE Harlequins prop says there was never any chance of making the Test team on the recent Lions tour so he spent much of his time in New Zealand getting drunk instead. Two things here. First, maybe Marler has missed the obvious connection between his non-selection and endless nights on the pop. Second, what would our reaction have been had an England footballer come home from a World Cup and made such an admission?
HARRY KEWELL
FULL credit to the former Leeds and Liverpool winger for giving management a go on the bottom rung, but it may be a short-lived gig if things do not improve soon. His Crawley team are bottom of League Two after three successive defeats. ‘It will change,’ said the Aussie. It may do, but whether he will be in charge when it does remains to be seen.
DAVEY DREW
THE Walsall fan was thrilled to book a hotel for a bargain price just 11 miles from his team’s game at Portsmouth only to reach the south coast and realise that his lodgings were on the Isle of Wight. As they say, if something seems too good to be true then it probably is.