• Oxlade-Chamberlain told to be patient.
• Palace captain fears Man United.
Image: REUTERS
The one player delighting the Arsenal manager Unai Emery is on-loan midfielder Dani Ceballos. Gunner’s supporters have taken to him already and chant his name because he is providing that previously missing link between defence and attack. He drops deep to take the ball from his defenders and runs away from attackers before delivering accurate forward passes.
A typical example of this occurred in the game against Burnley when he dispossessed Johann Berg Gudmundsson, moved forward and put in a splendid ball to release Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who slotted the ball into the net. Ceballos has inherited Aaron Ramsey’s No 8 shirt but is clearly capable of more flexibility than the man who moved to Juventus. New signing David Luiz has been praising Ceballos, saying: “He is someone who loves to play football and will take on a game. He played at a different level from the rest of us and it was good for everybody.” Talking of David Luiz, of whom I am a great admirer, he brought calmness to the defence, which lacked last season. Emery is seriously considering building his defence around Luiz. In training and in the dressing room, Luiz is already proving to be a strong influence and his enormous experience has the respect of younger players and this is again something appreciated and recognised by Emery. This weekend’s big game against Liverpool will test both Luiz and Cebbalos as they battle the likes of Sane, Salah and Firmino.
Oxlade-Chamberlain told to be patient
Matches don’t come much bigger than this weekend’s clash between Liverpool and Arsenal. Ex-Arsenal and now Liverpool player Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is desperate to play against his old team. However, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has warned Alex that he must come back slowly so he can fully recover and not aggravate his knee injury which kept him out for so long. Alex made his first start in 16 months last Saturday against Southampton and played well however Klopp said: “He needs to be patient and everything will be fine.” To prove a point Klopp reminded us that the midfielder played in the recent European Super Cup and struggled and was replaced thus proving that returning to full match fitness takes time. Klopp’s main consideration this weekend against the Gunners is the injury to Naby Keita, who will not start.
Palace captain fears Man United
Crystal Palace club captain and midfielder Luka Milivojevic is fearing the worst against Manchester United this weekend. After defeat by new boys Sheffield United, Milivojevic said this week: “We didn’t expect to lose points at Sheffield. We didn’t play good enough and in the second half we didn’t create. We must prepare for Manchester because I think it could be even worse than Sheffield.” Manager Roy Hodgson was unhappy with his team and made his feelings felt after the game and again in training this week. Some of the players are turning on each other and striker Christian Benteke blamed his teammates for his lack of goals saying: “Our problem is that we don’t create enough chances to score. We have to be more available and work harder.”
Sane changes doctors
An update to my story last week of Manchester City’s Leroy Sane and his right knee injury… Leroy and his advisors decided at the last minute not to have an operation in Barcelona but instead he travelled to Innsbruck, Austria. The word I received is that, because Sane has been linked with a move to Bayern Munich, he has put his medical faith in Professor Christian Fink who is a colleague of Dr Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt the Munich team doctor so the link is definitely pointing towards Bayern making a possible bid for Sane. City manager Pep Guardiola would only say that he did not know about Sane’s plans and also does not know what will happen to his winger in the long term. Guardiola has insisted that Sane will remain at City for his recuperation which according to my medical sources could take a staggering six to seven months.
Pulisic makes up for losing Hazard
One player who has given Chelsea manager Frank Lampard a reason to smile is his new Croatian/American striker Christian Pulisic. Many observers see him as the ideal replacement for the departed Eden Hazard, now with Real Madrid. Lampard pointed out this week that Pulisic makes darting runs behind frustrated defenders and reads the game well to make incisive passes to his other strikers. It was Jurgen Klopp, the Liverpool manager, who gave Pulisic his big break when they were both at German side Borussia Dortmund and after Klopp moved to Merseyside, to manage Liverpool in 2016, he made a failed bid for the striker. Pulisic went through a period of negativity after Klopp left but his value increased. He scored only seven goals and made 13 assists which is hardly impressive. Fast forward three years and the striker gave an impressive display in setting up Olivier Giroud to score Chelsea’s opening goal in the Super Cup final. In that move, he split Liverpool’s Van Dijk and Joel Matip leaving them stranded. Lampard was particularly pleased with the way he displayed intelligence, speed and accuracy when he cut inside defenders to score in the bottom left hand side of the net although VAR ruled offside.
Another piece of the Pogba move puzzle
One of the main reasons that Paul Pogba wants to leave Manchester for Spain and Real Madrid has become clearer. Why would a player, clearly valued by his manager and supporters want to leave what is arguably the world’s most famous club? One of the pieces of the puzzle is his family. The Pogbas are a very close family and Paul and his three brothers want to relocate to Spain. Paul has been heavily linked to Real Madrid whereas his brother Mathias has completed a move to third tier team Manchego which is on the Madrid border and his other brother Florentine, who currently plays for Italian club Atlanta, has told his agent to find him a club in La Liga or the second Segunda division with a club within close proximity to Madrid. To complete the picture, the brothers’ mother Yeo Moriba, who brought up the three boys as a single mother after splitting from their father, is also planning to move to Madrid quite soon. The picture is becoming clearer.
Sterling could score 30 this season
Pep Guardiola took Raheem Sterling to one side on the training field this week and told him that he is capable of scoring 30 goals this season and he should be aiming for at least 20. Sterling netted 25 times last season but Guardiola says that from his training and the games played pre-season and his performances so far in the Premier League his striker is even sharper than last year. Talking of the 30 goals for this year Guardiola said: “When he is in front of goal he puts the ball in the net so I know he can do it.”
Lampard joins call for end to racist abuse
Chelsea’s Frank Lampard has taken up the cause of racist abuse in football following the attacks made on Paul Pogba and his own Tammy Abraham following penalty misses. The disgraceful and disgusting individuals who cowardly attack players on social media must be stopped and Lampard has urged Social Media internet companies to take immediate and strong action. The “Kick it Out” equality body have issued a statement sent out to journalists which says, “The latest round of fixtures have again seen unwarranted and vile racist abuse sent to players….The number of posts since the start of the season further highlights how discriminatory abuse online is out of control.” A report made in July from “Kick it Out” shows that reported cases of racist abuse aimed at football players rose by 43% last season to 274 compared with 192 the previous season.
United’s Dalot out in the cold
Under the new Ole Gunner Solskjaer regime at Manchester United young, speedy, attacking right back Diogo Dalot was expected to do well. He joined United 14 months ago for £19million from Portugese club Porto but new signing Aaron Wan-Bissaka has taken over the right back’s position and last weekend club captain Ashley Young was the substitute for that defensive role and not Dalot. The Portugese, who is still only 20, has started only nine league games since Solskjaer took over from Jose Mourinho last December and he started only once in the six pre-season matches. Dalot is expected to discuss the situation with his agent and a move in January cannot be ruled out.
Why Coutinho did not return to Liverpool
Many fans have asked me why Liverpool did not resign Philippe Coutinho and allowed him to join Bayern Munich. I put the question to my club sources and Jurgen Klopp has explained the reason. He says that the £142million Liverpool received for the Brazilian allowed the Reds to buy Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker. Both have proved to be excellent investments. Therefore, the money received has been spent. The cost of resigning Coutinho, even on a temporary loan deal, was far too expensive. Klopp does not like signing players on loan and the only deal he has done was to bring in Steven Caulker in January 2016. Everyone else who has joined is permanent. Coutinho’s loan fee and wages would have been upwards of £20million for one season and that would be for a player who Klopp admittedly admires but could not guarantee a starting line-up place. The manager added, “We were reluctant to sell Philippe but Barcelona forced us with a lot of money.”