Global football is currently on pause for the most part, but the Premier League will restart again on June 17, with matches to be played behind closed doors. Project Restart has its issues, sure, but overall it looks on track to be a success. United will restart their season with a fixture at Tottenham Hotspur.
Until we have football matches again, we still have plenty of news items to cover and analyze. So let’s take a look at what the Manchester United community is talking about in cyberspace. For today’s MUFC transfer rumors round-up go here.
Sky Sports did an analysis of the remaining schedule strength for all 20 Premier League clubs. The good news is that United had the easiest run-in of anybody, by the metric utilized.
Average opponent position in the current table
Man United: 12.3
Man City: 12.1
Wolves: 11.8
For more on this, go here.
It’s also worth noting this statement from the Premier League on Wednesday: “The Premier League can today confirm that on Monday 1 June and Tuesday 2 June, 1197 players and club staff were tested for COVID-19. Of these, one has tested positive.”
It’s been widely reported that the one case is at Tottenham Hotspur, United’s next opponent.
Jadon Sancho reveals a 'Justice for George Floyd' shirt after his goal for Dortmund. pic.twitter.com/a3fP7dpnap
— B/R Football (@brfootball) May 31, 2020
Elsewhere, United’s top summer transfer target, Borussia Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho achieved a hat trick on the weekend, but the real story was his goal celebration.
Sancho lifted off his jersey to reveal an undershirt that said “Justice for George Floyd,” a statement in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, which stands against racial inequality and police brutality.
The English international was booked with a yellow card, and there was concern he could face further sanction. Fortunately, he will not.
In a statement released Wednesday, the German FA and Bundesliga confirmed that Sancho, as well as the other three Bundesliga players who honored George Floyd with their on-pitch protests, will not face further punitive action.
“The DFB Control Committee will not initiate proceedings against Achraf Hakimi, Jadon Sancho, Weston McKennie and Marcus Thuram. The committee also intends to maintain this line in new anti-racism campaigns to mark the death of George Floyd on the coming match days.”
DFB vice president, Dr. Rainer Koch, added:
“Of course, the DFB control committee always has the requirements of the FIFA football rules and the DFB regulations in mind. In the specific case, however, these are targeted anti-racism campaigns by the players, which are therefore committed to values for which the DFB also stands for and always stands for.”
“Therefore, no proceedings will be initiated, even with comparable anti-racism campaigns, in the next few weeks.”
Finally, we finish with a link to a statistical analysis of Anthony Martial. The Frenchman who fell out of favor with Jose Mourinho has assumed a new and greater role under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Planet Football did an interesting write up as they went inside the numbers.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
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