Aston Villa frustrate Manchester City as Rémi Garde makes instant impact

The Rémi Garde era is up and running and some hope has returned to these parts after Aston Villa produced a performance full of endeavour and spirt to end a run of seven successive defeats and frustrate the league leaders. Villa remain anchored to the bottom of the table but there were some positives signs for the home supporters to cling to on an afternoon when Manchester City were uncharacteristically profligate in front of goal .

Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne were both guilty of wasting excellent chances to give City the lead and the sense that this was not going to be the visitor’s day was confirmed in injury-time, when Fernando’s thumping header from the substitute Kelechi Iheanacho’s cross cannoned back off the crossbar.

There were still a few goalmouth skirmishes to endure after that and Villa were desperately hanging on come the end, with the final whistle greeted with the sort of celebrations that would normally be reserved for a victory. As for City, it is impossible to look on the result as anything other than two points dropped and their disappointment was compounded by a first-half injury to Wilfried Bony, who limped off with a pulled hamstring.

Garde had made his intentions clear from the start. All four of the players recruited from Ligue 1 this summer were restored to the lineup in a team that showed six changes from the side that were comprehensively beaten at Tottenham Hotspur on Monday, and there was an intensity about Villa’s play in the opening stages that represented quite a shift from what has gone before.

City, on the other hand, looked flat. Manuel Pellegrini had warned his players about the dangers of coming up against a team with a new manager but the message seemed to go unheeded in the opening 45 minutes. Yaya Touré, once again retained in the No10 role, could be seen throwing an arm in frustration after Pellegrini demanded more.

Cristiano Ronaldo: I want to retire with 'dignity', not in USA, Qatar or Dubai

Cristiano Ronaldo said Friday that he wants to end his career “with dignity” and not playing in “the United States, Qatar or Dubai”. The Real Madrid and Portugal star, the subject of a new documentary that premiered on Monday in London, said Thursday in an interview on ITV’s The Jonathan Ross Show that he expected to play six or seven more seasons and hoped to finish his career at the highest level. The remarks ostensibly referenced the recent wave of top players who have finished their careers outside of Europe’s top leagues, among them MLS imports Didier Drogba, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo and David Villa, along with Xavi, the lifelong Barcelona midfielder who signed with Qatari club Al Sadd in May. “That does not mean it’s bad play in the leagues of the United States, Qatar or Dubai, but I do not see myself there,” Ronaldo said. Ronaldo, who turns 31 in February, became Real Madrid’s all-time leading goalscorer last month and has th...

Falkirk chairman calls for restructure of ‘outdated’ Scottish league

The format of the Scottish league is outdated and should be restructured with a 16-team Premiership to help boost football in the country, says the chairman of second-tier promotion-challengers Falkirk . Speaking at the club’s AGM, Doug Henderson said the slide of Scottish football, from falling attendances to the poor performance of the national side and their top clubs in Europe, would continue unless steps were taken to change the current system. Scotland were the only team from the British Isles not to qualify for next year’s European Championship and Celtic , Scottish champions for the past four seasons, regularly fail to make any impact in European competition. Scottish football’s top four tiers are currently organised into a 12-team Premiership with three lower divisions each containing 10 teams. “Reflecting economic reality and the need for premier division full-time football, I believe that we must put vested interest aside and reform our lea...

Young people to lose access to unemployment benefits as part of welfare reforms

YOUNG people will not be able to get unemployment benefits until they turn 25 under reforms introduced by the Turnbull Government today. The coalition has unveiled wide-ranging welfare reforms in parliament today, including changes to the Newstart program. It hopes to stop people aged 22 to 24 getting Newstart or the Sickness allowance, and they will instead be shifted to the Youth Allowance payment. This will reduce the amount of money that they will be able to get, costing a single person living away from home about $90 a fortnight. They will also be required to study in order to qualify for the payments. “The key aim of this measure is to provide incentives for young unemployed people to obtain the relevant education and training to increase employability,” according to an explanatory memorandum for the bill. However, it says Youth Allowance does allow students to earn a higher amount of money from part-time or casual work than Newstart, before this begins imp...

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