The Warm-Up: Behold, the mythical draw specialists of Old Trafford!
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Updated 02/02/2017 at 09:06 GMT
Francesco Totti, Peter Crouch and Essam El-Hadary star in a special golden oldies edition of our morning round-up...
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho
Image credit: Reuters
THURSDAY’S BIG STORIES
Hull or high water
We were worried for a while back there. For a good few weeks, it looked like they had lost their mojo. Results were just not going their way. A growing sense of unease was threatening to engulf the whole club, putting a great strain on relations between the manager and his players.
But the concern seems to have been groundless, for the machine has clicked back into gear over the last fortnight. Behold, on the horizon! They return! The great mythical draw specialists are back!
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Pogba (M. United) cabizbajo tras empatar frente al Hull
Image credit: EFE
Make no mistake, that run of six consecutive Premier League wins was galling in the extreme to these hardy lovers of single-point increments. It tested the mettle of Jose Mourinho, who was forced to smile in interviews and praise his charges.
That’s over now, thank God. United are back to their mesmeric best, following up stalemates against Liverpool and Stoke with a goalless draw against Hull City at Old Trafford.
This was a night to rival the season’s other high points: the joyous 1-1 with Stoke in October, the unforgettable 0-0 with Burnley, the bewitching 1-1 with West Ham. The result also gave them a handy cushion in the battle to avoid the Champions League places.
Mainly, though, this was the kind of performance that makes people fall in love with football. Welcome back, friends. The world was a dark, dark place without you.
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Manchester United-Hull
Image credit: EFE
Jesus walks all over West Ham
Money-making idea for West Ham United: rent the Olympic Stadium out to Manchester City whenever they have a match they need to win. Pep Guardiola’s side certainly seem to enjoy playing there more than the Hammers.
City put five past their hosts in the FA Cup at the start of January and doubled down on Wednesday night, eviscerating West Ham with a display of enormous conviction. (I was going to type something about “silencing the crowd” there, but… well, y’know.)
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Manchester City's David Silva celebrates scoring their second goal with teammates
Image credit: Reuters
Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling ran the flanks with the unforgiving zeal of mafia bosses, but the real star of the show was Gabriel Jesus. The Brazilian scored his first goal in English football and generally looked ridiculously talented all night long.
Admittedly, his cause was helped by a backline that seemed determined to make things as easy as possible for their visitors. Presumably to improve their bargaining position for the ground-rental idea. Clever.
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Manchester City's Gabriel Jesus celebrates scoring their third goal
Image credit: Reuters
Advantage Barça in Copa del Rey semi
Atletico Madrid have not been too impressive in recent weeks, with speculation over the futures of Diego Simeone and Antoine Griezmann appearing to take their toll. They’re way off the pace in La Liga, and while their Champions League hopes are still alive, they now have a mountain to climb if they are to reach the final of the Copa del Rey.
Atleti slipped to a 2-1 defeat to Barcelona in the first leg of their semi-final at the Calderon. Luis Suarez scored a lovely solo goal to break the deadlock, before Lionel Messi doubled the advantage with a rocket from range. A second-half goal for Griezmann gives Los Colchoneros a chance, but it’s a long way back from here.
IN OTHER NEWS
Peter Crouch joined the Premier League’s 100 club, reaching a century of goals with a strike in the 1-1 draw with Everton. A great achievement for a great man, and also an opportunity to post this:
HEROES AND, ERM, HEROES
Hero: Francesco Totti
40 years old and still scoring goals at the highest level for his boyhood club. This penalty, late in injury time, was enough to take Roma through to the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia, where they’ll play city rivals Lazio. What a man.
Hero two: Essam El-Hadary
Yep, The Warm-Up is in a good mood, so it’s double heroes week. And unofficial forty-somethings week too, because our second hat tip goes to the 44-year-old Egypt goalkeeper, whose penalty-shootout heroics took the Pharoahs into the final of the Africa Cup of Nations on Wednesday night.
IN THE CHANNELS
Another week, another fascinating development in the footballers-on-Twitter subculture. We head to Spain, where Gerard Pique has adopted a bracingly minimalistic approach to celebrating major life milestones:
The Warm-Up is a big, big fan of this. It’s so much better than a generic Arsenal selfie or a screenshot of a message written on the Notes app. Indeed, we’re already looking forward to future missives. “Wedding”, maybe, or “Daughter”. In a few years, simply, “Retirement”.
COMING UP
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Supporters ahead of the match between Burkina Faso and Cameroon.
Image credit: Reuters
There are three options for you this evening. If you want to keep it domestic, Huddersfield vs Brighton(7:45pm) has got your name on it. For those looking for something a little more continental, there’s Celta Vigo v Alaves (8pm) in the Copa del Rey.
For The Warm-Up’s money, though, it’s all about the second Africa Cup of Nations semi. Cameroon vs Ghana (7pm) could be a cracker.
Tom Adams (cholera) faces a late fitness test for Friday's Warm-Up - Alex Chick already has his gloves and shinpads on, ready to deputise
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