Ken Early

New signings Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike are too big – and expensive – to fail. Will Arne Slot pay the price?

Guardiola’s system disintegrates but Arteta fails to learn from his mistakes

Parallels between Premier League side and Irish national team are uncanny, not least their capacity for self-delusion

If there’s one thing this team has taught us over the last 20 years, it’s that things can always get worse

Slow starts, at the beginning of both the first and second half, have been hampering Heimir Hallgrímsson’s team

Adam Idah's late equaliser provided relief but only a fool would dismiss debacle of the first 15 minutes

Republic of Ireland team are now more in line with modern game ahead of World Cup qualifier

‘Arsenal’s regrets can all be traced to the “first, do not lose” mentality of their coach’

Striker is determined to join Liverpool, but Magpies can hardly complain when they have botched the whole affair

After almost half a billion spent over three transfer windows, Casemiro remains at the heart of midfield

You can’t drop a performance like this as one of the best-paid players in the league and expect not to be criticised

Champions Liverpool spend big to consolidate position as Arsenal and Manchester United attempt to take giant leap

Manager Heimir Hallgrímsson put a lot of store into the set pieces at Friday night’s friendly against Senegal, and they very nearly paid off

Enrique’s brilliant Paris Saint-Germain triumphed in most one-sided final in Champions League history

Aston Villa rue what might have been, Manchester United notch up unenviable record and Alexander-Arnold signs off at Anfield

The way football has gone has made moments of true joy and celebration so rare

While Liverpool fans were venting bitterness at Alexander-Arnold, Barcelona may have done him a favour by humbling Madrid

Arsenal and England require something different from Declan Rice

Slot is the model of the modern football coach: collaborative, egoless and technically-minded

Since Madrid have spent the last decade getting so used to victory they should thank Arsenal for reintroducing them to disappointment and humiliation

We have seen a trend where players continue to excel at ages when their equivalents of the past were already running pubs

All systems went awry at Old Trafford when the club’s owners lost sight of Alex Ferguson’s will to win

A potential $150m payday from the Club World Cup risks creating an injury nightmare for Pep Guardiola

A fourth win in eight games under Heimir Hallgrimsson gives us something dangerous – hope

Ireland’s methodical diagonal switches and deep far-post crosses eventually pulled apart the Bulgarians as they had the Finns

Nations League: Troy Parrott shines as Heimir Hallgrímsson’s side enjoy rare comfortable second half

Arne Slot’s reluctance to trust in his extended squad left his side vulnerable to a chastening final defeat

Manchester United need new players and an unlikely summer encounter

I was one of the people paying way over the odds to see Messi play for Inter Miami against New York City

Shamrock Rovers manager’s criticism of Heimir Hallgrímsson may have missed the point but his outburst will do the domestic game no harm

Infantino and Trump share one common enemy – the thing that used to be called the mainstream media

While Mikel Arteta’s side hope to push on for the Premier League title, Manchester City look like they want the season to finish now

Wrong refereeing decisions cannot be eliminated from football because most of the time wrongness is a matter of subjective perception

Football now increasingly subject to the influence of forces that never appear on the pitch

Gabriel Jesus’s injury and another unconvincing performance by Kai Havertz underlined how badly Arsenal need a new forward

Sunday’s Premier League match at Anfield suggested there could be some sense to selling Trent Alexander-Arnold to Real Madrid

Moments of magic being sapped from the game as managers opt to cut out risky business

Ange Postecoglou needs to review his risk-and-reward calculation

United manager’s faith in Amad Diallo helps secure a memorable Manchester derby victory over struggling City

If Irish football has been subsisting on the poverty line, Hungarian football has had billions pumped into it