Sports
Who needs Eze? Spurs’ win at Man City shows transfers aren’t everything
MANCHESTER, England — After a week in which they’ve missed out on signing Eberechi Eze to rivals Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur delivered a timely message with their 2-0 win at Manchester City that the success of a season doesn’t just come down to what you can do in the transfer market.
Already in coach Thomas Frank’s short time in charge, Spurs have come within minutes of beating European champions Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup and started their Premier League campaign with a comfortable 3-0 win over Burnley. But this week the tone has changed — primarily because of Eze’s decision to join Arsenal rather than their North London neighbors.
Radio phone-ins have been inundated with furious fans. The supporters who traveled to City for Saturday’s early kickoff began their afternoon with chants of “We want Levy out” in a show of frustration — it must be said, not only linked to the failed bid to sign Eze — at chairman Daniel Levy.
Within 45 minutes, though, the mood had flipped again. Tottenham went in at halftime at the Etihad Stadium leading 2-0. A controlled, disciplined performance in the second half meant the match finished that way and, for a few hours at least, Spurs went top of the Premier League. Maybe they’ve already got their signing of the summer by hiring Frank. Eberechi who?
– Has Frank got Tottenham ready for a Premier League revival?
– How did Arsenal beat Spurs to Eze, and why do they need him?
– How will Premier League’s new stars fare? Wirtz, Sesko, Gyökeres, more
“Extremely proud of the players’ performance, an exceptionally good performance,” Frank said postmatch. “I think it’s fair to say we’ve had a few questions about the transfer market. ‘Why not?’ and ‘What if?’
“We have a good group of players, a talented group of players, that I’m very pleased with. If we can improve it, perfect. If we can’t, then we have very good players, and we showed that today.”
Asked about Eze’s snub at his prematch news conference on Friday, Frank said he “doesn’t want any players that don’t want to come to this club.” He might find his transfer targets in the final days of the window are more willing to join after his team put in a clinical display against City.
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Thomas Frank ‘extremely proud’ after Tottenham’s win vs. Man City
Thomas Frank speaks after Tottenham’s 2-0 victory against Man City in the Premier League.
For 35 minutes, they soaked up pressure and needed goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario to save well from Omar Marmoush. The final 10 minutes of the first half were all about the manager’s game plan.
A long ball forward exposed City’s high line and Richarlison raced through before squaring his pass for Brennan Johnson. Initially ruled out for offside, VAR Andrew Madley intervened and the goal stood. Then, high pressure on the edge of the penalty area forced goalkeeper James Trafford — starting ahead of Éderson — to make a poor pass, and João Palhinha gratefully accepted the gift to score a second.
You don’t necessarily need new signings to play well and win games. Sometimes it’s more important to have a manager who knows what he’s doing. Frank, a winner at the Etihad before with Brentford in 2022, picked a team against City that included two summer arrivals — Palhinha and Mohammed Kudus — but, crucially, he’s getting more out of the players he’s inherited.
The way Spurs closed out the game by limiting City’s chances looked a million miles away from former coach Ange Postecoglou’s cavalier approach. Last season, Postecoglou’s team managed just six clean sheets in the league. This season, it’s two in two games for Spurs. Frank is trying to rebuild a team which, for all the euphoria of their UEFA Europa League triumph, finished 17th last season. There will be bumps in the road. For now though, it’s so far, so good.
“Second half I think we were very good,” said Frank. “The spell where they could put pressure on us, we were very aggressive in the pressure.
“The clean sheet makes me very happy. It is a big thing we have been working on. Blocking shots, everything. Last year we had six clean sheets.”
City manager Pep Guardiola has now lost eight Premier League games to Tottenham, his most against any opponent. It wasn’t lost on the traveling fans who spent the final minutes alternating between chants of “It’s happened again” and “We are top of the league.”
It’s too early in the season to force Guardiola into a major rethink, but he has issues to solve. His defensive line — always high — has been pushed up even further since the arrival of Jürgen Klopp’s former assistant at Liverpool, Pep Lijnders. Spurs took advantage of John Stones jumping out in an attempt to catch Richarlison offside in the build-up to the first goal.
Guardiola’s other problem is in goal. Trafford was picked after a positive debut and a clean sheet last week against Wolverhampton Wanderers, but it was his mistake which cost City the second goal. With Ederson on the bench, the 22-year-old looked shaky, particularly when coming out of his area to deal with balls over the top. You imagine Gianluigi Donnarumma, unwanted by PSG, is waiting by the phone.
Afterward, Guardiola offered no guarantees about who will start when City travel to Brighton & Hove Albion next weekend. He does, however, want to see improvement at the Amex Stadium.
“James made a good first game [against Wolves] and I decided to continue,” said Guardiola. “When I take decisions in the first part of the season, for all the players, you play one or two and everyone thinks ‘OK, this is the starting lineup’. It was just today I decided that.
“It’s just the second game. The last game against Wolves everyone said everything was fine, but I said it was just the first game and it’s the same now. We have to improve. We have seven days rest and then Brighton.”
Another win next Saturday against Bournemouth ahead of deadline day would be another nudge that Spurs’ first season under Frank won’t just be decided in the transfer market.
Sports
Texans’ Azeez Al-Shaair talks fine for pro-Palestinian message on eye tape: ‘It’s bigger than me’
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Houston Texans pass rusher Azeez Al-Shaair spoke out about the fine he received for wearing a pro-Palestinian message across his eye tape during a playoff win against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Al-Shaair talked to reporters outside his locker in the wake of the Texans’ loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday. He was hit with a fine of $11,593 for having “Stop the genocide” emblazoned across the tape, according to ESPN.
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Azeez Al-Shaair of the Houston Texans during the national anthem before the wild-card playoff game against the Steelers at Acrisure Stadium on Jan. 12, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
He told the media he was aware what he did would garner a fine.
“I knew that that was a fine. I understood what I was doing … I was told that if I wore that in the game, I would be pulled out the game,” he said, via ESPN. “I think that was the part that I was confused about because I understood that was a fine but I never seen Stef (Stefon Diggs) get pulled out of a game for having eye tape with writing on it.
“At the end of the day, it’s bigger than me, the things that are going on. If it makes people uncomfortable, imagine how those people feel. I think that’s the biggest thing. I have no affiliation, no connection to these people other than the fact that I’m a human being. If you have a heart and you’re a human being and you see what’s going on in the world, you check yourself real quick. Even when I’m walking off this field, that’s the type of stuff that goes on in my head. I check myself when I’m sitting here crying about football when there’s people who are dying every single day.”
The NFL rulebook states in Rule 5, Section 4, Article 8 what players are allowed and not allowed to wear on game days. The rule states, “Throughout the period on game-day that a player is visible to the stadium and television audience (including in pregame warm-ups, in the bench area, and during postgame interviews in the locker room or on the field), players are prohibited from wearing, displaying, or otherwise conveying personal messages either in writing or illustration, unless such message has been approved in advance by the League office.
Azeez Al-Shaair of the Houston Texans exits the field during the playoff game against the Steelers at Acrisure Stadium on Jan. 12, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
“The League will not grant permission for any club or player to wear, display, or otherwise convey messages, through helmet decals, arm bands, jersey patches, mouthpieces, or other items affixed to game uniforms or equipment, which relate to political activities or causes, other non-football events, causes or campaigns, or charitable causes or campaigns. Further, any such approved items must be modest in size, tasteful, non-commercial, and non-controversial; must not be worn for more than one football season.”
Al-Shaair has supported Palestinians in the past, including wearing “Free Palestine” cleats for the NFL’s “My Cause My Cleats” campaign during the 2024 season.
Al-Shaair had “Free” written on one side of his shoes in the colors of the Palestinian flag. On one shoe, “Surely to Allah we belong and to Him we will all return,” was written. On the side of his other shoe, he included the number of Palestinians reportedly killed and wounded in their war with Israel.
The shoes were for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, which he also supported in 2023.
“I feel like it’s something that’s trying to be almost silenced,” Al-Shaair told the Houston Chronicle at the time. “On either side, people losing their life is not right. In no way, shape, or form am I validating anything that happened, but to consistently say that because of [Oct. 7] innocent people [in Gaza] should now die, it’s crazy.
Azeez al-Shaair of the Houston Texans shakes hands with Aaron Rodgers of the Steelers after their playoff game at Acrisure Stadium on Jan. 12, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (Joe Sargent/Getty Images)
“[Other people] try to make a disconnect and dehumanize people over there. And it’s like, they’re human beings. Being a Muslim, we see everybody the same; Black, White, Spanish, whatever you are; you can be orange, like, we’re all human beings.”
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Al-Shaair was also part of the Athletes for Ceasefire organization.
Fox News’ Ryan Morik contributed to this report.
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The 2024 class of Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye and Bo Nix have already led their teams to playoff success.
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Napoli head coach Antonio Conte has appeared to aim a dig at former Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim, suggesting arrogance from previous coaches has hindered Rasmus Højlund‘s development as a striker.
Højlund joined Conte’s Napoli on a season-long loan last summer in a move that the Serie A club are obligated to make permanent should they qualify for the Champions League.
The Dane joined United in a £64 million ($85.79m) deal from Atalanta in 2023, scoring 26 goals in 95 appearances. He was frequently overlooked by Amorim during his time in charge at Old Trafford and did not feature in any of the club’s four first four Premier League fixtures of the season.
Højlund started well at Napoli, scoring nine goals in his first 20 appearances but he has not found the back of the net since scoring a brace at Cremonese on Dec. 28.
“Some young coaches nowadays are arrogant and don’t want to adapt. They see a young striker struggling, and instead of training him, they blame him,” Conte told a news conference on Friday ahead of the weekend win over Sassuolo.
“They always complain and blame everyone but themselves, because everything is handed to them on a silver platter.”
– Transfer rumours, news: Chelsea open to Fernández exit
– Serie A table
Napoli sporting director Giovanni Manna has said he considers Højlund’s permanent transfer from Manchester United a “formality.”
“We did everything we could to sign him,” Manna told Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport.
“There were more storied clubs interested, but his will was crucial, and we are proud of it. There’s an option to buy and an obligation to buy if we qualify for the Champions League.
“The player considers himself a Napoli player, and the same goes for us. This is extremely important.”
Napoli are third in Serie A, six points behind league leaders Internazionale and face Juventus on Sunday.
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