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Benitez makes spectacle of himself at Tottenham

Rafael Benitez ran roughshod over the various high-profile campaigns urging respect for match officials yesterday by indicating that referee Phil Dowd needed glasses after he turned down two late penalty appeals by Liverpool in their 2-1 defeat to Tottenham at White Hart Lane.

Spurs put early heat on Benitez

Eyes blazing, arms outstretched, Rafael Benitez appealed to the referee for a penalty in the dying moments of the game yesterday with the kind of fervour that put him in contravention of any number of Football Association and Premier League respect campaigns. One game gone and Liverpool are feeling...

Sam Wallace: Shevchenko remains unabashed amid embarrassment of riches

Sometimes it's difficult to say what is the biggest waste of money Roman Abramovich has tolerated at Chelsea. The big, bronze-coloured academy that never produces any players? Or the man inside the academy, Frank Arnesen, who buys lots of kids who aren't good enough to play for Chelsea? Or is it...

Rooney revels in his new found freedom to hand United the perfect start

The destinies of Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo have been bound together once before in a World Cup season, with a certain dismissal and a wink as England's hopes of glory were extinguished three years ago. That was the endgame played out in Germany but as a new season unfolds we have evidence...

Adebayor tunes in to City regime

There was a moment after Emmanuel Adebayor had sat down for his first interview as a Manchester City player in South Africa this summer when you wondered why on earth Mark Hughes, with his work ethic and his messianic drive for a "winning mentality", had wound up with a forward quite like him. The...

Fabregas leads a masterclass in art of football

This was an aberration partly created by the fact that money, the prospect of oodles of it at Mammon City, sorry, Man City, had "twisted" the mind of Everton's Joleon Lescott so comprehensively Arsenal had merely to pick their way through the rubble of a team that finished fifth last season.

Upson admits he may be on his way

Gianfranco Zola never seems to have a smile far away from his face. Predictably he was beaming after this, but inwardly he will be ticking off the days of August on the calendar in his West Ham office in the hope that the financial situation the club is in does not mean there will be further...