Boos for Harry Maguire, tidy Erik ten Hag ball, and let the Euro 2022 quarters commence – The Warm-Up

WEDNESDAY’S BIG STORIES

Boos and Ten Hag Ball

Boo. Harry Maguire. Booooo. Harry Maguire. Booooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Isn’t it just so… tiresome? Manchester United travel half the world for their pre-season tour and their captain is subjected to jeers from some supporters in Melbourne during the friendly win over Crystal Palace.

Why? Well that’s a deep dive into the psyche of a football fan that we don’t quite have time for here, but in short it’s another damning indication that the grubby paws of Football Twitter are smothering the matchday experience, and demoralising footballers in the process for no real reason.

Police have already looked into allegations of a bomb threat at Maguire’s family home this year, and before the new season even begins he is subjected to some needless hate in a match that means absolutely nothing.

It was the sour note of an otherwise positive outing for United, who are certainly exciting their fans who aren’t too tired from booing with their brand of ‘Ten Hag Ball’.

Of course, it’s pre-season, it’s early days, and Cristiano Ronaldo still hasn’t trained these new methods – will he ever? – but it’s clear to see why this tidy second goal went viral yesterday.

Also doing the rounds was a video of Ten Hag seemingly shouting at Charlie Savage, politely asking “What the f*** are you doing?!”. The several articles we’ve digested on Ten Hag would suggest this is nothing new, for the head coach at least, but could be a rude awakening for United’s players.

But, but, but… let’s reserve judgement for the Premier League. Friendlies are one thing, the actual league and its challengers are another beast entirely.

Euro 2022 quarters time

• Tonight: England v Spain
• Tomorrow: Germany v Austria
• Friday: Sweden v Belgium
• Saturday: France v Netherlands

Spain had the pain of losing Alexia Putellas on the eve of the tournament, and laboured to a 1-0 win over Denmark after losing to Germany.

Here comes the but… But don’t go ruling them out by any stretch. Spain have dominated possession in every game so far, their 70 per cent share against Germany was their lowest so far (they averaged 76 per cent in the other two matches) while they’ve also recorded 61 shots.

Yes that may have resulted in just five goals so far, mainly thanks to that opening 4-1 win over Finland, but what if that all comes together? And what if that’s tonight against England?

“There are a couple of teams who are the favourites and I don’t think that has changed a lot over the group stages,” England manager Sarina Wiegman said.

“I do expect the game that they have played all the time. They will probably have the ball a lot too but I hope we do. That’s okay in certain moments but we are pretty comfortable on the ball so I’m excited to see how it will go.

“We have seen the games are a high level and there are more teams who can win the Euros. Spain are missing two key players but of course they are still a very good team.”

Too true. England will not underestimate them, but the hope will be that this free-scoring, ruthless Lionesses side that Wiegman has fostered will have too much for Spain.

FC Barca do what they want…

If this meme was a club…

… It would be FC Barcelona.

THIS IS ALL FINE. In fact, it’s all completely and utterly normal, spending millions on our desired players, tweeting about Robert Lewandowski 12 times a day – including, and I cringe, “Lewy’s winks” and the below monstrosity…

But others aren’t buying it, most notably baffled Bayern boss Julian Nagelsmann.

He told Bild: “Barcelona, the only club that has no money but then… buys every player they want.

“I do not know how [they do it], he said.

“It‘s kind of weird, kind of crazy.”

Yup. Julian Nagels-right-on-the-money-mann.

IN THE CHANNELS

Sage advice, Neil, who at just 41 tweets down is already very aware of his role on Twitter.

Try and sell after-dinner tickets, and supply the lols…

RETRO CORNER

On this day 18 years ago, Chelsea signed a 26-year-old from Marseille.

It went rather well…

HAT TIP

“It’s difficult for clubs,” Leon Farr, a partner at Onside Law, told The Athletic. “They’re having to balance their legal responsibilities to the player as an employer with all of the other considerations that you have a massive sports property: managing reputational risks, keeping sponsors happy, keeping your dressing room happy. It’s tough to balance all of this and find the right answers. There is no template for it.”

COMING UP

Hopefully temperatures below 40C, and also football. Follow the first Euro 2022 quarter-final between England and Spain on our blog tonight, kick-off is 8pm.

In the world of cycling, the Tour de France has reached Stage 17 today, give that a watch as it’s the first of two most-likely crucial days in the mountains.