Laura Woods: Luke Littler is a Generational Talent
Long way to go in title race
I'll never get drawn into thinking the season is wrapped up at Christmas.
Remember that year (2018) when Liverpool were far ahead at Christmas and Manchester City hunted them down and won the league by a point?
It’s the Premier League and we do pride ourselves on its unpredictability, even though it’s been won by the same team for the last four seasons.
Really a lot could happen between now and the last day of the season.
City enjoy having a target to aim for, it usually puts them into turbo mode. I don’t think we can really say it’s anywhere near over even if City lose to Spurs and Liverpool beat Southampton. Not yet!
Guardiola’s new deal no surprise
I wasn’t hugely surprised by Pep Guardiola’s new contract but I did wonder how losing his assistant Txiki Begiristain at the end of the season would affect him.
Pep still has a lot of trophies in his sights, to add to the 18 he already has, and perhaps he’s not ready to give that up yet.
I think it will affect the team hugely. City are a well-oiled machine and those players are incredibly well drilled.
The system behind the scenes deserves a large amount of credit but Pep really is the focal point.
It will no doubt settle the players and perhaps put an end to what’s been a very un-City-like spell with a very poor run of results, by their own standards. It will also affect the transfer market.
City is a beast of a club now but without Pep and the uncertainty that will bring about the club's future would no doubt give incoming players something to consider, and might also see a number of players leave.
It’ll take him to 10 years in Manchester, with a new sporting director Hugo Viana and a fresh challenge ahead, maybe he just can’t turn that down.
Ruben Amorim has to make impact — and fast
Manchester United need Ruben Amorim to have an impact almost immediately, but it’s very hard to tell if he will.
He is a good manager but he doesn’t necessarily have a great team, so I don’t expect him to suddenly propel them into the top four.
It’s a long climb from 13th; he’ll need to lean on all the experience he learned from bringing Sporting out of the pits and into success, but he will also have to learn to live with the immense scrutiny that comes with the territory in the Old Trafford dugout.
Let’s see how he does with the transfer window and what tools United give him to succeed, because the current crop don’t seem to be enough.
Littler the present and the future of darts
Luke Littler’s story has been absolutely phenomenal.
I’ve watched so many young stars come onto the scene in darts over the years — but none with the nonchalant nature of Luke.
It makes him all the more special. The only one that comes close to it is Michael van Gerwen or maybe even Kirk Shepherd’s run to the World Championship final against John Part in 2008… but he couldn’t quite follow it up in the same way.
Littler’s name was on everyone’s lips whether you were watching him live on the stage at Ally Pally, or following his memes on social media. His popularity has transcended the sport and brought so many more eyeballs to the palace.
This week, now 17 years old, he’s just won the Grand Slam of Darts and he’s nicked it off Luke Humphries, who beat him in last year’s World Championship final. The Grand Slam is a huge title and his second major after the BetMGM Premier League, those certainly feels like the first pair of many.
He has learned about life on tour with that BetMGM Premier League campaign, which can be gruelling, and he’s dealt with a heap of media attention and continues to improve his game every time he steps on to a new stage.
Every now and again you come across a gem in darts, someone who takes the sport to a new level. I truly think Luke is a generational talent
He’s certainly the future of darts — but also very much the present.