There are some games in which, you suspect, the two managers could have shaken hands on a draw before kick-off and nobody would much have minded. From the moment Odsonne Édouard levelled eight minutes after half-time, this felt sure to finish level, and all that was left was to go through the motions so as to fulfil the contract to provide 90 minutes for the Sky cameras. The growing number of empty seats on a dank, raw afternoon in east London suggested few who had paid for tickets felt a similar obligation.
The two oldest managers in the league spent most of the second half standing almost motionless on the edge of their technical areas, hands thrust in pockets looking vaguely disgruntled, as though they were just counting down the seconds till they could drift off for a mug of cocoa and an episode of Matlock, or however it is that they spend their Sunday evenings.
Continue reading…There are some games in which, you suspect, the two managers could have shaken hands on a draw before kick-off and nobody would much have minded. From the moment Odsonne Édouard levelled eight minutes after half-time, this felt sure to finish level, and all that was left was to go through the motions so as to fulfil the contract to provide 90 minutes for the Sky cameras. The growing number of empty seats on a dank, raw afternoon in east London suggested few who had paid for tickets felt a similar obligation.The two oldest managers in the league spent most of the second half standing almost motionless on the edge of their technical areas, hands thrust in pockets looking vaguely disgruntled, as though they were just counting down the seconds till they could drift off for a mug of cocoa and an episode of Matlock, or however it is that they spend their Sunday evenings. Continue reading…
