Gabriele MarcottiJan 5, 2026, 07:18 AM ETCloseGabriele Marcotti is a senior soccer writer for ESPN.com. Read his archive here and follow him on Twitter: @Marcotti.Follow on X
play1:18Why Leboeuf has high hopes for Rosenior at ChelseaFrank Lebouef explains why he’s optimistic that incoming coach Liam Rosenior will prove a good choice to replace Enzo Maresca at Chelsea.
play1:50Tighe impressed by McFarlane’s proactivity in Chelsea’s draw vs. Man CitySam Tighe explains why he was ‘impressed’ by Calum McFarlane’s tactical decisions that led Chelsea to get a last minute draw vs. Man City.
play1:50Moreno: Barcelona owe Espanyol win to ‘world class’ Joan GarcíaAle Moreno hails the performance of Barcelona goalkeeper Joan García in their 2-0 win over Espanyol in LaLiga.
play1:25Was the Man United job ‘too big’ for Ruben Amorim?Julien Laurens explains what went wrong for Ruben Amorim at Manchester United after being sacked following 14 months at the club.
play1:16Nicol: Arsenal look like Premier League championsSteve Nicol debates who can stop Arsenal winning the Premier League after their 3-2 win over Bournemouth.
play0:54How Gonzalo Garcia ‘elevated’ Real Madrid’s performance vs. BetisAle Moreno praises Gonzalo Garcia’s performance as he scored three goals in Real Madrid’s 5-1 win over Real Betis in LaLiga.
play2:22Michallik: Liverpool board must be looking at replacing Arne Slot’ESPN FC’s’ Janusz Michallik reacts to Liverpool’s 2-2 draw against Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Will Man City’s defensive struggles cost them in the title race? (2:17)Steve Nicol and Ale Moreno discuss Manchester City’s defensive issues after drawing with Chelsea that could impact their chances in the title race with Arsenal. (2:17)
Why Leboeuf has high hopes for Rosenior at ChelseaFrank Lebouef explains why he’s optimistic that incoming coach Liam Rosenior will prove a good choice to replace Enzo Maresca at Chelsea.
Frank Lebouef explains why he’s optimistic that incoming coach Liam Rosenior will prove a good choice to replace Enzo Maresca at Chelsea.
Tighe impressed by McFarlane’s proactivity in Chelsea’s draw vs. Man CitySam Tighe explains why he was ‘impressed’ by Calum McFarlane’s tactical decisions that led Chelsea to get a last minute draw vs. Man City.
Sam Tighe explains why he was ‘impressed’ by Calum McFarlane’s tactical decisions that led Chelsea to get a last minute draw vs. Man City.
Moreno: Barcelona owe Espanyol win to ‘world class’ Joan GarcíaAle Moreno hails the performance of Barcelona goalkeeper Joan García in their 2-0 win over Espanyol in LaLiga.
Ale Moreno hails the performance of Barcelona goalkeeper Joan García in their 2-0 win over Espanyol in LaLiga.
Was the Man United job ‘too big’ for Ruben Amorim?Julien Laurens explains what went wrong for Ruben Amorim at Manchester United after being sacked following 14 months at the club.
Julien Laurens explains what went wrong for Ruben Amorim at Manchester United after being sacked following 14 months at the club.
Nicol: Arsenal look like Premier League championsSteve Nicol debates who can stop Arsenal winning the Premier League after their 3-2 win over Bournemouth.
Steve Nicol debates who can stop Arsenal winning the Premier League after their 3-2 win over Bournemouth.
How Gonzalo Garcia ‘elevated’ Real Madrid’s performance vs. BetisAle Moreno praises Gonzalo Garcia’s performance as he scored three goals in Real Madrid’s 5-1 win over Real Betis in LaLiga.
Ale Moreno praises Gonzalo Garcia’s performance as he scored three goals in Real Madrid’s 5-1 win over Real Betis in LaLiga.
Michallik: Liverpool board must be looking at replacing Arne Slot’ESPN FC’s’ Janusz Michallik reacts to Liverpool’s 2-2 draw against Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Chelsea turn it around to grab draw at Man City, but enough of this “control” stuff
Joan Garcia makes all the difference as Barcelona sneak a tight derby
In the end, Manchester United couldn’t ignore Ruben Amorim’s comments
In Spain, LaLiga returned with a Barcelona derby and it was former Espanyol goalie Joan García putting on a show for Barca in an impressive victory. (Also, Real Madrid were rescued by a center forward … though it wasn’t Kylian Mbappé.) Elsewhere, Ruben Amorim finally pushed it too far and was sacked Monday morning as Manchester United manager, Liverpool had to unpack another frustrating result, Paris Saint-Germain thumped their rivals Paris FC, and much, much more.
– Chelsea deal Man City’s title hopes a blow – VAR Review: Why was Wirtz onside in PL, offside in Europe? – Ogden: Amorim’s outburst ultimately costs him his job
Guardiola isn’t deluded — he just does what some coaches often do in these situations, which is protect his players.
The upshot is that Arsenal’s lead at the top is now six points and that, with hindsight, maybe going into the season with Ake, Khusanov and John Stones (10 league starts in the past 18 months) as your reserve central defenders wasn’t such a great idea.
Tighe impressed by McFarlane’s proactivity in Chelsea’s draw vs. Man City
We’ll see how Rosenior does, but the sense is that making sure his personal relationships within the club stay healthy and positive will be a key to his success.
Was Joan Garcia flustered or intimidated? Was he heck. He made six saves, two of them save of the season contenders — not including the one where simply took his center back Gerard Martín and chucked him into the path of Pere Milla’s shot. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more dominant goalkeeping performance in the past few seasons.
Moreno: Barcelona owe Espanyol win to ‘world class’ Joan García
And boy, did Barcelona need it because until Dani Olmo’s beautiful (but improbable) long-range effort with four minutes to go, it was 0-0 and they had managed just three shots on target. They were a caricature of themselves: disjointed going forward, a car crash at the back. (And no, not just because of the much-discussed high line, though that didn’t help either.)
Joan Garcia kept them in the game, Dani Olmo’s individual quality won it for them (before Robert Lewandowski added a second late), but Hansi Flick will know this was not a convicing performance to start the year. Thank goodness for his keeper, who ignored the Judas tag and simply did what he does better than most: save goals.
Sunday’s 1-1 draw at in-form Leeds United — not great, but creditable given the many absences — keeps Manchester United jointly in fifth place and means they’ve still lost just once since November. It was by no means a reason for Ruben Amorim to gloat, but neither was it a reason for him to give the club a reason to sack him.
Except, that’s sort of what happened on Sunday, when he insisted that he was there “to be the manager of Manchester United, not to be the coach.” This is something he might have wanted to clear up more than a year ago, perhaps with the club itself, given that he was appointed as “head coach.”
Semantics aside, what did it mean? Presumably that in the English game, “managers” traditionally have plenty of control over things like recruitment and contracts, while coaches pretty much just coach. That model no longer really exists and for good reason: it’s virtually impossible to be good at both in the modern game and, in any case, coaches by necessity think short-term while clubs and sporting directors think long-term.
It was a direct swipe not just at sporting director Jason Wilcox, but also at the ownership and the way the club is set up. United had no choice but to act, though you can’t help but wonder if the thought of moving on from him hadn’t crossed their minds repeatedly well before this. This story is breaking as I write this, so no doubt there will be more to come.
Amorim chose to crash and burn rather than just fade away. At least he made an impact on his way out.
10. Arsenal look like champions in win at Bournemouth: There’s more than one way to do it. You can dominate and outplay the opposition or, on a day when you stumble and are off your game, you show enough to get back into it and win. The 3-2 away victory on Saturday fit the latter category. Gabriel’s grotesque error gifted Bournemouth the opener and, within six minutes, he had wiped it out, notching the equalizer. Declan Rice did the rest, scoring twice.
9. Four wins on the spin for Napoli as Lazio brushed aside: This one was over in just under half an hour, thanks to goals from Leo Spinazzola and Amir Rrahmani. The old trope is that you can only beat what’s in front of you, and what was in front of Napoli Sunday was was one of the worst Lazio sides we’ve seen this year, who then made things worse by ending the game with nine men thanks to two red cards.
The opposition made it easy, sure, but it’s worth noting how Antonio Conte was missing four starters (Sam Beukema, André-Frank Zambo-Anguissa, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku, whose return has been pushed back a few weeks) plus Lorenzo Lucca and Billy Gilmour. Not to worry. They turned the screws early, locked up the game and managed things the rest of the way, just how he likes it. Against Lazio, it was more than enough.
How Gonzalo Garcia ‘elevated’ Real Madrid’s performance vs. Betis
Sunday’s goal means Martinez has reached double figures in Serie A for the seventh consecutive season. It’s a nice stat, but nicer still for Inter is that with Marcus Thuram, Ange-Yoan Bonny and Francesco Pio Esposito, Inter don’t need to depend on him for scoring. Which is a good thing, because Martinez does so much more.
6. Should Aston Villa double down? They bounced back from defeat at Arsenal with a 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest this weekend, a result that puts them level on points with Manchester City in second place, six behind Arsenal. Most scoffed at the suggestion that it was a three-way race when they were three points back, so you don’t expect folks to change their mind now. But simply qualifying for the Champions League is definitely within their grasp.
5. Paris Saint-Germain remind Paris FC who is boss in the city of light: Let’s chill for a second, OK? Bernard Arnault, all the clever guys at Red Bull, Jurgen Klopp… you guys may have a ton of money and football cred, but for now this town has one footballing boss, and it’s not you.