9 Quotes by Matthew Engel

Verbosity was an established Victorian trait.

It is damnably hard to know for certain which horse will win ... but a trainer, jockey or groom can often be very sure indeed that a horse will lose.

It was a triumph for the real thing. Five five-day Test matches between two gifted, well-matched teams playing fantastic cricket at high velocity and high pressure with the perfect mix of chivalry and venom. Here was the best game in the world, at its best.

Is this good for English football? In the short run, Chelsea's rise has broken up what was turning into an irritating Arsenal-Manchester United duopoly. But football leagues (look at Scotland, look at Spain) can get along OK with duopolies. A monopoly, however, is a disaster. Everyone else in the Premiership has to operate on some kind of business footing, and the terror stalking Highbury and Old Trafford is that Chelsea will be immune from financial discipline forever.

Derek Randall bats like an octopus with piles

There are those who condemn five in midfield as a negative tactic, but when a side's centre-backs are as hapless as Chris Perry and Hermann Hreidarsson were on Sunday, it is not nearly negative enough.

The Five have never been the world's top five.

Derek Randall bats like an octopus with piles.

There are those who condemn five in midfield as a negative tactic, but when a side’s centre-backs are as hapless as Chris Perry and Hermann Hreidarsson were on Sunday, it is not nearly negative enough.