Brentford thrash Leicester | Salah's dig at Haaland | Lionesses draw with Portugal
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Welcome to Back Pages, bringing you everything you need to know about the biggest sports stories, making the headlines in the mornings, newspapers. I'm Dave Fulton and joining me are Mark Ogden, senior writer at ESPN and a sports writer and broadcaster, Henry Winsor.

We're going to start with the Telegraph. The first story that talks about the football tonight. Leicester losing to Brentford 4-0, Mark. I mean, this is, I think, six home games in a row. No goals scored. That new manager bounce, there hasn't been much bounce for Ruud van Nistelrooy at all. And this was pretty poor tonight from them.

It's been really bad hasn't it for Rudvan Nistroi, he went there about two or three months ago now in the back of having a brief spell at Man United where he did well, beating Leicester twice ironically, but he's not really picked up at Leicester, they're in a real state at the moment in the bottom three, but if you look at the table they're still in touch with safety, I think they're only two points behind Wolves, so there is a bit of hope, but while they're playing as they are, like you say six straight home defeats, no goals,

That's a bad recipe and I know the Leicester fans were chanting at the end that they want John Rudkin out as one of the sporting directors, they weren't turning on Van Nistelrooy tonight, it was more the people behind the scenes. But whichever way it goes, it's an unhappy situation at Leicester. They're a club that nine years ago won the Premier League but relegated a couple of years ago, came back up last year and they've had a tough time. So Van Nistelrooy is really struggling and the way it's going you'd be surprised if you saw it at the season because clubs that have such a bad run under a new manager,

tend to change change straight away so we'll see how long you last but leicester are in a bit of a mess right now henry i remember when rude ben this story was appointed a lot of pundits and experts were saying this is a guy this is not necessarily the best fit because he's a guy that can't shore up a defense and that his teams always leak goals he's also got the problem that they're not scoring goals it's a pretty fatal combination

He's also got some very poor defenders. So as well as, as you say, him not being able to organize, I mean, you know, he's, he's playing strengths were, were obviously attacking, but the, the hand that he's been dealt by John Rodkin, who was, Augie says the, the fans, well, those Leicester fans who were remaining to the bitter end chanting that they want him out, you know, the recruitment has been poor. If you actually look at that team that,

play tonight. Madsen Manson is a Premier League player. Jamie Vardy at what, 38, 39 is still just running and giving everything but it's just everything between them. The other nine players, I mean they're trying their best but they're just simply not good enough and look, credit to Brentford but they absolutely tore them apart and Leicester helped because they were so open. So you could just see why the Leicester fans

And there was a bit of sort of dark humor at the end when Wellenotti actually had a shot. It went wide and they were all chanting, we've had a shot. I mean, it is, they're my local team and it's sad to see them, but they're going down with Southampton.

OK, well, let's focus on the other end of the table then, shall we? Concentrate on what is always a mouth-watering clash when Manchester City and Liverpool lock horns. Mark, Haaland has it easy. Salah dig over goals as rivals gear up for huge cash. I'm not sure how much of a dig it is at Erling Haaland. It's just pointing out that he plays on the wing, so Haaland should get a few more goals.

Yeah, obviously when City are at their best, Haaland just can't move for chances to score goals. I think he scored over 50 goals in his first season at City, but obviously City have had a bit of a dip this season and he's not getting as many goals, he's not getting as many chances. Kevin De Bruyne isn't as regular on the team, so that takes away a real supply line for him. So I'm not quite sure what Salah's getting at because I think Salah's a much better all-round player than Haaland. He can create chances out of nothing. He can score from the left, from the right, through the middle. Haaland is pretty much a guy that scores through the middle when he gets the chances, so...

Obviously, this is a way to spike up the game, but for me, Erling Haaland is a great goalscorer, but Mo Salah is a great footballer, a great player, and I think there's a difference there. I think Salah will probably have more chance of scoring a goal out of nothing than Erling Haaland.

Henry, most papers are picking up on this. I mean, it's low-hanging fruit, I guess, for a head of a big game like this. Do players have to be a little bit careful? Mo Salah has experienced enough to know perhaps not to kind of poke the bear where Erling Haaland's concerned, albeit he is carrying a bit of a knock as well. Well, Mo Salah, I think anyone who's followed his career and knows anything about the character of the man, he's not the type to go in for cheap digs.

laces some of these comments with you know having huge respect and as and as Augie says it's it's kind of the area of the pitch the two of them are playing in and if you're playing more through the center then you've got more chances but I think we've seen a development in football over the last sort of five ten years whereas you know playing with one up front but actually with more goals and a lot of creativity coming from the wide areas actually tacking that areas which

We saw Brandon Wemo do tonight very effectively for Brentford coming off the right and scoring with his left. And it's something that Mo Salah does incredibly effectively. So I will be surprised if Mo Salah deliberately woke up this morning and thought, right, I'm going to wind up Erling Haaland. As you say, you don't poke the bear. He's a fantastic player, Haaland. I don't think he actually gets the proper respect that his numbers and his work rate are.

deserve in this country. He's an absolute fabulous player. And I think we'll see with him playing with Mahmoud, the two of them, I think that could be a really good strike force and actually might bring even more goals for Haaland because Mahmoud will actually take players, defenders away from him. So look, we're incredibly lucky to have two such special players in this country. But, you know, let's remind ourselves that they do play in different positions.

Yeah, absolutely. Let's just focus on Jamie Carragher's piece just for a second. I'm keen to get both your thoughts on this. It's quite a detailed piece talking about Arsenal's defence, Liverpool's attack though, the difference. Obviously, Arsenal, much well documented their kind of lack of business in the window, their injuries to their forward players comparing Liverpool's

world-class attack, Mark, and suggesting that this is going to decide the title and also suggesting that if they can beat Manchester City, historically, this game has been a key one in the title race. You know, obviously it's a big game, the Man City game, but it's not the game it was last season or the season before because City have fallen away. It's not, for me, the acid test of Liverpool's title credentials.

But I can say, I see Jamie's point in that Arsenal's defence is strong, but Liverpool's defence, with Virgil van Dijk, has been probably the best play of the season. So we're not talking about Liverpool being a poor defence here. And up front, yeah, there's no argument that Liverpool have got a better attacking force than Arsenal because Arsenal haven't got any strikers that fit at the moment. But even then, Liverpool couldn't beat Aston Villa in the week because Darwin Nunes, one of their expensive strikers...

couldn't take an easy chance so you know for me I think that Liverpool look a little bit at the moment like they're showing a little bit signs of fatigue a little bit that Arne Slott hasn't really rotated his squad as much as other teams have and

Mikel Arteta's not had the opportunity at times because of injuries, but I do think that Arsenal are still in the title race. And yes, beating City at the weekend will be a big step towards winning the league, but I think there's a little bit more mileage in the title race yet because Liverpool have shown against Everton when they didn't win, against Wolves in their really poor second half, and again in midweek against Villa that they're not putting teams away as they were at the start of the season. So maybe there's a little bit of hope for Arsenal, but Arsenal just have to keep on winning.

Henry, do you buy this kind of fatigue argument because he didn't make any signings, did he, Arnestot, in the January window compared to the likes of City and Villa, who they played the other night? I think they had four of their five new signings actually on the pitch and looked fresher because of it. Marcus Rashford included. Liverpool haven't done that.

No, they haven't. But it's interesting reading Jamie's piece because he talks about a world-class attack. I mean, I would slightly fine-tune that to a world-class attacker. I mean, when you've got Mo Salah, he's got what, sort of 24, 25 goals and 15 assists. I mean, he's probably Footballer of the Year and he probably could declare now with those sort of numbers. But if you actually look at the other attackers they've got, I mean, Cody Gakba has actually had a good season, responded to Arne Slott's.

but he's dipped a little bit. Luis Diaz, hot and cold. Diogo Jota is a fantastic centre forward when he's fit, but he also misses chances like Darwin Nunes did. So it's a difficult comparison when you've just got such an exceptional player. And if you try and make that comparison with Arsenal, without Bukayo Saka, it's really hard because Bukayo Saka is Arsenal's most,

important player, let alone their most important attacker. They went into this season without a number nine, which was very naive, and they're sort of counting the cost. And now it looks like they're going to have to play Mikel Moreno, who played very well there the other day and got two almost sort of number nine goals, certainly the first one, the header,

But they've been hit by injuries there. But anyone who thought that Kai Havertz was going to be a number nine who could lead Arsenal to the title, it just simply wasn't going to work. He's a support striker. So, you know, it's been fascinating to see these two attacks. I agree with Augie. I think the defense is, I mean, Arsenal's probably slightly ahead. But as you say, Liverpool have been very well organized defensively by Arneslott.

But those attacks. But when you've got a player like Mo Salah, you're just showing his record here. It's phenomenal, 24 goals, five ahead of Haaland. He is the difference.

Yeah, let's focus on Manchester City then, shall we? And the back of the mail, which says Pep admits City players can't hack it anymore. I mean, Mark, you made the very pertinent point that this is not quite as mouth-watering a fixture or title-deciding fixture as it might have been in the last couple of years. But just wondering about the psychology from Pep Guardiola, because he said...

earlier in the week that they had a 1% chance of coming back and overturning Real Madrid in the Champions League, which sounds pretty negative. We're not quite sure what he was saying behind closed doors to his players, but that public message of we've only got a 1% chance, now he's saying players can't hack it anymore and we might have to make lots of changes in the summer. These are not the kind of Guardiola messages we've come to expect.

No, well, earlier in the season when City were at the beginning of this really bad run, when they were losing game after game after game, he was very defensive of his team, saying they're not an ageing team, my players aren't getting old. And I think that was not the case. I think we know now that a lot of his players are probably past their best. De Bruyne didn't get off the bench against Real in midweek. You've got Gundogan, shouldn't have been brought back. You've got Bernardo Silva showing signs of age. John Stones is getting injured. Kyle Walker's left.

I think he's realised that protecting his players and saying that they've got plenty of miles left in the tank hasn't worked. So he's now been brutally honest. And I think City have got problems and it

summer basically of their own making because for two major summer windows they didn't really add to the squad as they had in the past they didn't really build from a position of strength so they're kind of reaping the whirlwind a little bit from that perspective they haven't strengthened when they had to so they brought players in in January you know like Henry says Marmouch is going to be a great player he's definitely got the ability to shine in the Premier League but not too sure about Kuzinov you know he's had a difficult start so far I think Nico Gonzalez could be a decent player going forward but you know is he going to be another Roderick we don't know so

I think Pep's right. I think some of these players can't hack it anymore. But these are the same players you were saying three months ago that weren't too old. Well, I think they are. And I think they've left it too late to replace some of these players. What do you make of his change of tone, Henry?

I think he's been totally honest. I mean, there's always a slight surprise when managers say these things in public, but we always ask for them to be honest. And I think any Manchester City fan listening to those words from Pep will agree completely. They have aged. I mean, John Stones has been a magnificent player for them. Great servant. Was it five Premier League titles, Champions League? I mean, it's remarkable what he's done, but he is increasingly injury prone and that's a huge loss.

And then Rodri, I mean, Rodri's injured against Arsenal earlier this season. I mean, so much of the problem stemmed from that. I don't think we'll be quite having this debate about Manchester City's form and their form wouldn't be like this if they had Rodri, their most important player in central midfield. He does two roles for them. So that was a huge loss and you've got to take these into account. But what Pep is saying is that, you know, nothing lasts forever. You go up a mountain, you come down the other side and players who can't,

then go and climb another mountain, it's time to move them on. And as Augie rightly says, you know, De Bruyne has been fantastic, but really it's probably time for him to move on. There are others in the defence and elsewhere. He's probably got a decision to make over Jack Grealish, who for me is still, should be a very important player for them. But,

There are a lot of questions. But all this, he's actually started this rebuild. I mean, everyone's talking about what is coming next summer. It has started. I mean, Pep's not naive. He knows better than anyone the form of his players. He sees them in training. He sees them close up every day. He knows who's dipping. The big problem they've also got this season, which is when they're wanting a summer of rest for some of their players, when they're wanting to bed new players in and rebuild. So they've got this Darf Club World Cup.

which is really going to scramble their summer, exhaust them for the start of next season. So Pep's got his work cut out, but look,

We are going to focus on the Lionesses for our next bit of chat. The Telegraph says... This piece by Catherine Batty suggested that maybe selection issues. They finished 2024, Henry, just a little bit, you know, out of sorts. And what they wanted was an emphatic nationality.

Nations League opener they went ahead and same old same old a little bit in terms of problems resurfacing a little bit and disappointing and Catherine's piece is very interesting because she makes the point that vegan well it says in the headline the hesitancy again costly and she's alluding to the changes one change was made at half time and then two late on sort of 84 minutes and

And Catherine was making the point that the opposing coach, Portuguese, was making that change earlier and was decisive. It's the type of thing we saw with Gareth Southgate, but we weren't really expecting it from Serena Wiegmann. And look, it's difficult to criticise her because of the amazing jobs that she's done with the Lionesses, but that was very disappointing that she didn't react quicker.

Mark, just on that, she's got a lot of credit in the bank, Serena Wiegmann, winning the Euros and doing so well in the World Cup. But is this a team that's stagnating a little bit or is this just an early kind of competition hiccup?

There's been a bit of a malaise since the World Cup final in 2023. England haven't really kicked on since then, they've had some disappointing results. Portugal, for all of their promises and emerging team, they drew with the US at the World Cup, which was a real surprise. They're an emerging team, they're not one of Europe's heavyweights. They're not Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, France. They're a team that England should be beating. It's a bad result. Spain are in the same group and they won tonight. It's another sign that England, Lionesses aren't quite where they were when they won the Euros.

Who knows? I mean, the tournament this summer, they still have a chance of winning it, but they do seem to have fallen back a little bit under Serena Wiegand, so it'll be interesting to see whether the women's game is as ruthless as the men's game when it comes to not living up to expectations and delivering.

OK, let's move on to Manchester United. Shall we? Always a fertile bit of ground, Henry, for us when it comes to the kind of problems and the woes and things to get our teeth stuck into. But this one's an absolute cracker. Leaked emails and face sack at Warn United in leaked email. What do you make of this?

It's brilliant, yeah, it's Mike McGrath's story in the Telegraph which has been picked up widely. I mean, it's just very funny. I mean, I think there's one rule here. If, you know, clubs tend not to leak if staff are being treated properly. But I think this is just a window, a very open window, which probably a staff member is open to peer into what's going on at Old Trafford. And you can see the tensions. I mean, it's quite a long email from what I can gather.

And I bet it was passed around very quickly. So look, they've got leaks all over the place, leaks in the roof, leaks from the club. And it's very difficult to keep a lid on something like that. I mean, it's difficult sometimes to close down sources or avenues of information from the dressing room. When you've got a club of

well, it was what, 1,100 people before Christmas, but they keep unfortunately culling members of staff and disgruntled members of staff, it's going to leak. So good luck with that one, Omar.

Yeah, I was just wondering, Mark, whether they need to get Colleen Rooney in just to discover who's been leaking to the press. She was pretty good at working out who did what, wasn't she? It's not the way, though, is it? I mean, in terms of the way Sir Jim Ratcliffe has gone in, cutting and Omar Barada kind of threatening people with the sack if they leak, it's not really the way to get people on side, you'd imagine?

Well, it's pretty naive to tell people who might lose their jobs not to leak an email about them losing the job. They're not going to be the happiest people in the world, are they, if they think they're going to lose their jobs? But I do know that when the last round of cuts was made, the people who had been made redundant and moved on were still receiving emails two or three weeks after they'd been let go. So if that's still the case, that people are on email lists when they shouldn't be, then obviously it's going to get out. It's just...

you know don't ever put on an email please don't leak this because you know exactly what's going to happen it's going to be leaked you know we see it every day with mps and whatsapp groups it's just the worst idea in the world so

But the smartest people in the room in here, so hopefully it'll get better for Man Utd sooner rather than later because, you know, they apparently know what they're doing, but we haven't seen much evidence of it so far. Yeah, the old one percenters. Right, let's focus on what Ruben Amarim has been saying. Back of the sun. Moyes is doing better than me. Honest Ruben's assessment of ex-United boss. Ruben Amarim has been remarkably candid, Henry, at times. I mean, I think he said that United, this United team...

arguably the worst in history. He said earlier in the week that his job is so hard. He's now saying Moyes is doing better. Obviously, David Moyes has started very well back at Everton. What do you make of the way Ruben is with the press?

Well, obviously, the fact that it's David Moyes makes it slightly more sensitive to Manchester United fans because he was, I mean, again, I sort of covered that era and it was, what, eight months, nine months of David Moyes trying to fill Sir Alex Ferguson's rather large boots and failing. So the fact that Moyes now, it's a completely different level of expectations and pressures at...

at Everton, still fairly unique pressures in terms of needing to keep Everton in the Premier League, going into this magnificent new stadium, which they had a test event at last week. So, yeah, he's won, what, four out of his six Premier League games. He's a good manager, but it's a different level of firefighting to Manchester United, as Moyes himself will know. The scrutiny on Ameren is not just local, it's not just national, it's international. It's just huge that he...

I mean, I really like Amarin, but he has gone in there to a fairly dysfunctional club with a squad that has been compiled by what's a four or five previous managers, a couple of sporting directors as well, and is ill suited to the system that he wants to play.

So, you know, he just needs time and he needs patience and he probably needs a couple of transfer windows. And it's just a question of whether Ineos have got the sort of, you know, the nerve and the courage to back someone who is a very, very good coach. But I agree with you. Some of his comments are a little bit odd. But then, you know, if he's being honest and that's his way and he's obviously quite an emotional character, then...

then that's the way he's going to roll. But we've got to remember, when he came into the club, everyone was fainting him and saying what a fantastic manager he was. Look at some of his performances in Europe. So maybe he deserves a little bit of slack. Yeah, absolutely. What do you make of how he's been going about his business? Because he's great for us in terms of there's always the little sound bites. But I'm just wondering if you're a player in the Manchester United dressing room and you keep hearing all this stuff, it might begin to grade after a while.

Well, it might be great, but the reality is what a lot he's been saying has been right. The vast majority of those players aren't good enough. They've never been good enough for Man Utd and I think they realise that Ruben Amar is coming in and he's going to kind of kick them off the gravy train, I suppose, in some respects. So they're not going to be happy, but

they're not delivering on the pitch for him either. So he's got this difficult situation where he's trying to clear out or move on from players who aren't good enough, but he's still relying on them to get the points, to get to the end of the season, to make it easy to change the situation. So it's really difficult for him. He's asking players who know they haven't got a future to deliver for a manager who's criticising the performances. So,

It's difficult for Henry, but I think he is the right guy. I think that he just needs to stick with him. But again, it's going to be difficult between now and the end of the season and beyond because United haven't got any money to make big differences. OK, we've got about 30 seconds, Henry, for your thoughts on England against Australia in the Champions Trophy. There for the taking, says Mike Atherton. Aussies are all over the place in terms of injuries. England haven't been great. How's it going to go? What are your thoughts?

Well, that against the Aussies, but they are missing some of their fast bowlers, Pat Cummings, Mitchell Stark and John Hazelwood. I had to write them down, actually, because I was about to throw Lily in there as well. So, yeah, I mean, it's a look. I always whenever Mike Atherton says something, I sort of stand up to read it and salute it. He's invariably right, Mike. But be careful with the Aussies because they're fighters. Even when they say they're depleted, they've still got people. And when they put on that bag of green cap, they'll be up for it.

OK. Gentlemen, absolute pleasure as always. Thank you very much for your contributions this evening.