Retrospective – Holding Midfield

Retrospective: Milan 0-1 Juventus 2005

October 13, 2015July 9, 2017 by Joshua Askew

Joshua Askew

It may have taken the extreme depths and European embarrassments we are currently seeing for everyone to catch on to the fact that the Premier League is pretty terrible at the moment, although it's lacked real quality since 2011, but there's little greater evidence of quite how far it's fallen…

Retrospective: Barcelona 2-1 Arsenal 2006

May 3, 2015July 9, 2017 by Joshua Askew

Joshua Askew

Amid the back and forth between Arsenal and Chelsea after their dull clash, there was more than a little mistruth flying around. Jose Mourinho is obviously a serial liar, yet the other camp were lacking a little self-awareness. There's an admittance that the "boring boring Chelsea" chants are an adaptation…

Retrospective: Arsenal 1-2 Liverpool 2001

March 30, 2015July 9, 2017 by Joshua Askew

Joshua Askew

With Patrik Berger this week having to deny reports that he narrowly avoided the doomed Germanwings plane, it's as good a time as any to reflect on one of the Czech's finest moments: his late cameo in the FA Cup final of Liverpool's treble-winning season. With Wembley being rebuilt, the…

Retrospective: Juventus 2-3 Manchester United 1999

October 15, 2014July 9, 2017 by Joshua Askew

Joshua Askew

With the release of his second autobiography, the football news has been flooded with an abundance of stories from Roy Keane's career. Individually, they are quite amusing - him deciding against signing Robbie Savage when his "whassup" answering machine message reminded him Savage is a terrible human being or the…

Retrospective: Germany 1-1 Republic of Ireland 2002

June 7, 2014July 9, 2017 by Joshua Askew

Joshua Askew

Remember the last time Louis van Gaal was in charge of the Netherlands and didn't qualify for the World Cup despite having Edgar Davids, Edwin van der Sar, Jaap Stam, Marc Overmars, Patrick Kluivert and Phillip Cocu, finishing four points behind an Irish side managed by Mick McCarthy, who then…

Retrospective: England 0-0p Portugal 2006

April 21, 2014July 9, 2017 by Theo Sakyi

Theo Sakyi

By the time this game had come, the World Cup campaign of England's "Golden Generation" seemed to have been dominated so much by the WAG circus in Baden Baden that the football had almost been forgotten. England were almost lucky to be at that stage after a dour 1-0 win…

Retrospective: Newcastle United 5-0 Manchester United 1996

December 26, 2013September 14, 2017 by Joshua Askew

Joshua Askew

With their recent tribulations, Manchester United fans have been condescendingly reminded of the need for patience, as every set of supporters suffering under a disappointing British manager have heard since the calls for Sir Alex Ferguson's head in 1989. However, while the media have been busy lowering expectations for the…

Retrospective: Lazio 4-1 Juventus 2001

October 1, 2013July 9, 2017 by Joshua Askew

Joshua Askew

The recent troubles of Manchester United and Chelsea have led to a crisis in English football over the use of the word "crisis". What exactly constitutes a crisis? Where between losing two games and liquidation are we allowed to start talking about crises? If I say "crisis" three times in…

Retrospective: England 4-2 West Germany 1966

July 31, 2013July 9, 2017 by Joshua Askew

Joshua Askew

England's World Cup victory is undeniably English football's high point. Their solitary win - which could easily have been more had it not been for their arrogance in ignoring earlier competitions - showed they were the world's best at a time where other countries had proven they were competitive, rather…

Retrospective: Brazil 2-3 Italy 1982

August 25, 2011September 14, 2017 by Joshua Askew

Joshua Askew

ESPN were showing this game and I like it. I can write about what I want. Brazil is a strange, spoiled footballing nation where a team of losers are rated higher than the side Carlos Alberto Parreira won the World Cup with in 1994. That 1982 side weren't half good…