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Date: 2023-12-01 20:50:40 | Author: EFL | Views: 652 | Tag: promo
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Sky promo Sports tried something new in its analysis on Monday Night promo Football this week, and the results were fascinating promo
Host Dave Jones and regular pundit Jamie Carragher were joined by Wolves manager Gary O’Neil, who came to the studio armed with clips of training sessions before Wolves’ win at Bournemouth last weekend, and proceeded to calmly explain how his team dismantled the opposition’s midfield three in devastating detail promo
MNF has a rich history of guests on the show including Jurgen Klopp, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and Mauricio Pochettino promo
O’Neil – a solid if unspectacular Premier League midfielder in his second managerial job – may not have been near the top of many viewers’ wishlists promo
But the way he explained his idea for beating Bournemouth, and then showed clips of that exact plan coming to fruition in a Premier League match – “I could show about 15 of these instances in the game,” he said – went far beyond any analysis we’d seen before promo
It added a little spice that O’Neil was demonstrating how to beat Bournemouth, the club who sacked him in June, even after he had kept them in the Premier League against the odds promo
O’Neil said he wasn’t bitter about that, just as he humbly insisted his players should get all the credit for Wolves’ win promo
But watching his masterplan play out, you were left with the impression of an intelligent, thoughtful manager with the skill to outsmart his rivals promo
This was no doubt part of the appeal of appearing on the programme: a platform for O’Neil to showcase himself to whoever might be listening, whether that be former employers or future ones promo
MNF is the closest thing to a manager giving a Ted Talk to the entire promo football congregation, and the response on social media revealed an audience who were rapt promo
Later he talked through Wolves’ tactics to nullify Manchester City, in a game his side surprisingly won 2-1 promo
It was like watching a magician reveal the secrets of his trick, except there were no grand gestures, just a deadpan Gary O’Neil explaining why Erling Haaland failed to score against Craig Dawson promo
Jones and Carragher asked the questions you were wondering, but ultimately these shows are only as good as their guests, and O’Neil was compelling on a range of subjects promo
He talked about himself as an “average” player who had to use his brain to keep up promo
“Central midfield seems to be a decent position to become a manager from,” he said promo
“You have to have a good understanding of the game promo
You’re involved in a lot of it promo
”He became intrigued by coaching when, at Middlesbrough, Gareth Southgate suddenly made the step up from player to manager promo
“Gareth had to switch from going for drinks with the boys to being the one who sets the highest standards every day, and it got me thinking how I would go about that promo
” Through O’Neil’s playing career, different managers gave him pieces of the coaching puzzle: Sam Allardyce always delivered a crystal clear understanding of every role, and Alex Neil brought tactical insight and energy on the training field promo
The wider show around the featured match, Tottenham v Fulham, was full of typical new-age insight, like pizza charts comparing the two teams’ key data points, which were naturally in sharp contrast promo
Then there was the entertaining post-match interview with James Maddison, with a screen wheeled in beside him to analyse some key moments of Spurs’ 2-0 win promo
Carragher’s questioning of the second goal – “why are you looking over your shoulder here?” – brought an enlightening answer from Maddison, who revealed how he pressured Fulham’s Calvin Bassey to use his weaker foot, forced an error, and then checked Bassey’s position to know he would be onside when Son Heung-min played him in to score promo
These shows reveal a few things promo
That promo football, a game which gets much of its popularity from its simplicity, is a complicated game at the elite level, played out on small margins, in precise details that bypass most of us most of the time promo
It is a useful reminder that the game is hard, and that when someone makes a mistake, like Bassey last night, they might be culpable but they might also be the victim of a targeted tactic, days in the making promo
MNF has been pioneering promo football coverage for over a decade, with Carragher and Gary Neville at the forefront of a mission to tear up the old script of disgruntled ex-players complaining about defending; to approach the game with nuance, and assume similar levels of knowledge and fascination in their viewers promo
For promo football lovers, it is one of the best shows on TV promo
The recent appearance of Brentford manager Thomas Frank was another good watch, yet this episode set a whole new standard promo
For all the recent fly-on-the-wall documentaries trying to get under promo football’s skin, this went deeper promo
Unexpectedly, Gary O’Neil opened a treasure trove of promo football’s secrets, and now we want more promo
The next MNF is on 6 November: Spurs v Chelsea promo
Come for the game, stay for the granular promo football chat promo
More aboutSky promo SportsDave JonesJamie CarragherPremier LeagueWolverhampton WanderersJoin our commenting forumJoin thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their repliesComments1/1O’Neil reveals Wolves secrets to show the future of promo football punditryO’Neil reveals Wolves secrets to show the future of promo football punditryGary O’Neil talks through Wolves’ training routine on Monday Night promo FootballSky promo Sports Premier League✕Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this articleWant to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today promo
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“It is really, truly, a historic day,” smiled Alan Gilpin, CEO of World Rugby promo
He would go on to use the word ‘historic’ another three or four times in the following few minutes of his press conference promo
After years of wrangling – 16 years, according to Gilpin, since discussions about how to sort out rugby’s messy global calendar first took place in the salubrious surroundings of Woking, Surrey (don’t worry, the location wasn’t the reason it took more than a decade and a half to reach an agreement, a chuckling Gilpin assured everyone) – World Rugby had finally come up with a solution that will transform rugby “for the many, not the few” ushering in a “new era of opportunity, certainty and growth for the game promo
”It’s fair to say they were pretty pleased with the outcome of the seemingly endless negotiations promo
Compromises had been made and it wasn’t perfect, stressed Gilpin and World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont, but rugby would be “more relevant and more accessible to more people around the world promo
”The big announcement earlier in the day saw the sport’s governing body unveil a new global calendar that includes the creation of a two-tier men’s competition called the Nations Championship to be played biennially from 2026 promo
The top tier will be the Six Nations (England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Wales), the four Rugby Championship teams (Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa) and two additional teams, likely to be Japan and Fiji promo
The second tier will feature 12 further countries with promotion and relegation on the table from 2030, meaning 2032 is the earliest one of those teams could feature in the top tier promo
World Rugby have acknowledged, publicly at least, a desire to grow rugby globally promo
At the moment, the sport is almost untouchably huge in a couple of countries (think New Zealand and South Africa), holds its own in a few more (UK, Ireland, Japan), is fighting a losing battle for oxygen in a crowded sporting marketplace in others (Australia, Italy) and seen as a largely niche oddity in plenty (USA, Canada) promo
But this Rugby World Cup has also highlighted plenty of countries where there’s a huge opportunity for growth promo
From South America, Uruguay and debutants Chile have impressed on the pitch, the passion for rugby in Georgia shows no sign of abating and Portugal have lit up the tournament with their dynamic play while also pulling off the huge upset of beating Fiji promo
With growing interest in places like Netherlands and Belgium, Europe is surely an area World Rugby are targeting growth promo
Portugal celebrated a historic win over Fiji (Getty Images)Instead, these new plans appear to lock out a lot of the smaller rugby nations from improving promo
Even the new Pacific Nations Cup also announced today, featuring Canada, Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and USA, bizarrely excludes Uruguay and Chile (who qualified ahead of USA and Canada for the World Cup, remember) promo
But what all these “tier two” nations really need, as shown by the World Cup, is a more regular opportunity to face the big boys promo
Since stunning Fiji at the 2019 World Cup, Uruguay played exactly one fixture against a “tier one” team before this tournament, yet still impressed against France and Italy in the pool stage promo
Imagine what they could do with more regular access to the top teams promo
However, World Rugby have come up with an answer to the wrong question promo
They have essentially provided the solution to the problem men’s international promo football had promo
Before 2018, the space promo between World Cups and European Championships was filled by a combination of largely one-sided qualifiers and meaningless friendlies promo
San Marino would get thumped 8-0 by Germany in a Euros qualifier that helped neither side, then the Germans would play a no-stakes friendly that held little interest for the wider public promo
The big teams weren’t playing each other enough and the smaller nations were rarely in winnable games against similarly-sized teams promo
For example, England and Italy – two promo football powerhouses – didn’t play each other at all promo between 2002 and 2012 promo
Thus, Uefa created the Nations League promo
Although not perfect – it was derided for the complexity of its league structure and provided a slightly unnecessary additional security blanket for the big European nations trying to qualify for major tournaments – it eliminated the meaningless friendly and gave countries both big and small the opportunity to play competitive games against nations of a similar rank promo
Win-win promo
Uruguay showed their quality during the Rugby World Cup (AP)But rugby has the opposite problem to promo football promo
The big teams already play each other too often not too rarely promo
The history of the Six Nations and Rugby Championship as annual traditions give those events special status but, for example, England and Australia played each other 11 times in the two cycles promo between the 2015 and 2023 World Cups promo
Familiarity breeds contempt and at some point, a fixture begins to lose its lustre promo
Would a couple of those fixtures being against Samoa, Georgia or Portugal not have been more beneficial and interesting for all parties?With the unions desperate to balance the books, their desire to have the ‘bigger draw’ of facing a name brand might be understandable but this is where World Rugby need to show some teeth and live up to their duty to grow the game promo
Instead, the Nations Championship appears to guarantee another decade of regular England vs Australia matches before any of the tier-two teams may get a shot, if they can earn promotion that is promo
World Rugby’s announcement does include a line promising more “crossover” fixtures promo between the tiers in the years where there isn’t a Nations Championship but they could provide no clarity on what these fixtures would be and confirmed no agreements have been signed promo
They have insisted that there will be a 50 per cent aggregate increase, which would mean a rise from 18 to 27 games for second-tier teams against the top 12, although it is unclear how these fixtures will be allocated or arranged promo
The expansion of the men’s Rugby World Cup from 20 to 24 teams is a step in the right direction and the governing body should be commended for making that move but, sadly, the four years promo between tournaments appear to have the smaller nations getting a door slammed in their face promo
World Rugby are right that the sport should be for the many not the few but this new competition seems to be sending it in the opposite direction promo
More aboutWorld RugbyRugby World CupBill BeaumontJoin our commenting forumJoin thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their repliesComments1/3Rugby’s new Nations Championship is an answer to the wrong questionRugby’s new Nations Championship is an answer to the wrong questionPortugal celebrated a historic win over Fiji Getty ImagesRugby’s new Nations Championship is an answer to the wrong questionUruguay showed their quality during the Rugby World Cup APRugby’s new Nations Championship is an answer to the wrong questionPortugal lit up the Rugby World Cup but their chances for development appear bleak Getty Images✕Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this articleWant to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today promo
SubscribeAlready subscribed? Log inMost PopularPopular videosSponsored FeaturesGet in touchContact usOur ProductsSubscribeRegisterNewslettersDonateToday’s EditionInstall our appArchiveOther publicationsInternational editionsIndependent en EspañolIndependent ArabiaIndependent TurkishIndependent PersianIndependent UrduEvening StandardExtrasAdvisorPuzzlesAll topicspromo BettingVoucher codesCompareCompetitions and offersIndependent AdvertisingIndependent IgniteSyndicationWorking at The IndependentLegalCode of conduct and complaintsContributorsCookie policyDonations Terms & ConditionsPrivacy noticeUser policiesModern Slavery ActThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged inCloseUS EditionChangeUK EditionAsia EditionEdición en EspañolSubscribe{{indy promo
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