After two defeats in a row and the worst start to a season for 29 years, Manchester United fans at Old Trafford last night were hoping for more than a listless stalemate with Valencia. The Spanish club created most of the chances and though they may be happy with a point they could easily have had all three. Earlier Manchester City picked up their first Champions League points of the season after David Silva scored a late winner in Hoffenheim. Tonight Tottenham will host Barcelona at Wembley in a fixture where the two respective managers Mauricio Pochettino and Ernesto Valverde have a very interesting history from their time at Espanyol, Barca's Catalan rivals. At the same time (8pm) Liverpool will look to make it two from two in Group C with a win in Napoli. Ahead of the fixture Jürgen Klopp made it very clear he would not join the debate over Mohamed Salah's form, the attacker has scored three in seven league matches.
The GAA has announced five radical reforms to Gaelic football for consideration ahead of next year's national league - if passed by Coiste Bainistiochta, they will be trialled throughout next season's national league. Keith Duggan believes: "The restriction of the handpass (to three) and the extension of the mark to inside the 20-metres line will, if introduced, have an immediate and sweeping impact on both the playing and the tactical approach to the game." Meanwhile Eamon Donoghue's Underdogs diary continues today, ahead of episode five on TG4 tomorrow night. He explains how the players balance their club commitments with the demands of the show.
Gordon D'Arcy's column returns today, and he is explaining why Tadhg Beirne's arrival can help take Munster to another level; "Now, one man cannot fully influence a team's philosophy but if the fundamentals are in place – that's down to coaches – Beirne can play an enormous role in Munster's game plan yielding results beyond what we've seen these past two seasons."
Paul McGinley was in Paris for the Ryder Cup. He did not see the altercation between Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka at Sunday night's European Team celebrations. But he knows Ryder Cup terrain as a captain and a player: "This is not how you lose. There is a way of losing. You close ranks. You say things in house and move forward. They are hurting and maybe some of the backlash is because they are hurting as much as they are."
Champion jumps trainer Willie Mullins suspects he may have discovered a rare Group One opportunity in France on Saturday - the €300,000 Prix Du Cadran. Just eight acceptors remain in the Cadran after the latest forfeit stage, and they include the Mullins pair Thomas Hobson and Max Dynamite who were first and second in last month's Doncaster Cup.
