• Tottenham have slipped to seventh in the table and Nuno Espirito Santo has spent his time this week working with his magic pairing of Harry Kane and Hueng-Min Son and also defending from set pieces.
• Our fans deserve much more than what we gave them against Chelsea-Nuno
Image: AFP
A key match for two managers this weekend is between struggling Arsenal and a misfiring Tottenham. Mikel Arteta has given himself some breathing space with two back-to-back wins. However, this will be a much bigger test to assess where his team are heading.
Last weekend, Arteta set up his team in a 4-1-4-1 formation which gave him an attacking line and five in defence. This week, Arteta has again been playing practice games using the same setup but concentrating on feeding balls up to his strikers in the hope that the goals start to flow.
Tottenham have slipped to seventh in the table and Nuno Espirito Santo has spent his time this week working with his magic pairing of Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son and also defending from set-pieces.
On the day Tottenham fans honoured their hero Jimmy Greaves, we expected Kane to take up the challenge and score a couple in honour of the legend. It didn’t work out that way. I looked down at my stats notebook after the Chelsea game and realised that Chelsea wing back Marcos Alonso had more touches in the penalty area than Kane!
No wonder Nuno has reorganised his training schedules. He said: “I wish I could send our fans a positive message but we have to look at what happened. We started the season with a lot of situations with players away and we built a way to win. Our fans deserve much more than what we gave them against Chelsea."
"The problems we suffered during the international break. The missing players and low levels of performance. We concede goals from set-pieces. There are many problems to solve. Not creating space between players is a current problem. If you are far from other players, it is more difficult to receive and pass the ball. We have much to work on.”
Rashford doing well but not ready yet
I can tell you that despite pictures circulating of Marcus Rashford in training, Ole Gunner Solskjaer will not be hurried into bringing him back into action and his medical team have confirmed they support that position.
Solskjaer said: “Yeah, it’s going well but I don’t think we’ll see Rashford until after the international break.” Solskjaer admitted that it was an easy decision to make because he now has a strong forward line available including Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho, Mason Greenwood and Jesse Lingard. Edinson Cavani is still not match-fit. Solskjaer hinted that his intention is to get Rashford ready for the match against Leicester on October 16.
Secrets of Tuchel’s hand signals
Here are a few secrets of Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel to look out for during the Chelsea against Manchester City game this weekend. Watch Tuchel on the touchline and you will see him use an assortment of hand gestures to instruct his players.
They are not just emotional, they are meaningful gestures which the team have been working on in training at Cobham this week. Some examples of this are: Holding his nose — this means he wants his main striker to go for goal more often instead of passing the ball around… Pointing a right hand finger through two other fingers on his left hand — this is to indicate that he wants his striker to move between the two centre backs…
Holding his ears — this means he wants the players to remember what they had practiced in training and finally... A scything gesture, waving his arm across his chest — this means he wants the players to tackle with more commitment and aggression. Don’t tell him I told you.
News of Elliott’s Liverpool operation
I checked up on Wednesday to see how Liverpool youngster Harvey Elliott is doing after his horror injury at Leeds United last week. He had an operation to repair the dislocation of his left ankle and although the medical team cannot give any specific timing, I am told Elliott will be out of action for several months.
He is in good spirits and not in pain with teammates keeping in touch every day. Also on the injury list is Thiago Alcantara with a calf problem and he is racing against time to be fit for the Champions League match next week against Portuguese club Porto. Liverpool confirmed he will not play this weekend at Brentford.
European clubs eye Rudiger
Chelsea central defender Antonio Rudiger is still negotiating over a new contract because he believes it will be his last chance to earn a large salary. He is currently on £120k a week and wants £200k. At the moment no deal has been finalised which has prompted several top clubs to register their interest should he become available.
Real Madrid, Paris St-Germain and Atletico Madrid would certainly be in the running to sign him. However, Rudiger has voiced a preference to stay in west London and says he is settled in his Chelsea life. Since Thomas Tuchel took over, Rudiger has played in every match and has his total confidence unlike previous manager Frank Lampard.
Rodriguez does not want to play for Everton
The truth is that Columbian James Rodriguez does not get on with Everton manager Rafa Benitez and he doesn’t want to play for the club either. It is a difficult and sad situation but he has to go. James wants to be a big star in the Premier League.
However, now that Qatar have made an approach to sign him he will probably go for the big bucks although he does earn £200k at Everton. James has been at Al-Rayyan in Qatar this week discussing a deal. I am told that both AC Milan and Turkish club Basaksehir are also interested. I have urged Everton to issue a statement so you, the fans, know what the situation is.
Midweek Euro games weaken sides for league matches
There has been much talk this week about the difficulty of playing midweek European matches followed by weekend games in the Premier League. Two clubs falling victim to the sheer physical efforts required to play on two big stages were Leicester City and West Ham.
Leicester fought a hard battle with Napoli which ended in a draw but were beaten by Brighton a few days later and West Ham lost to Manchester United following their superb win over Dynamo Zagreb. Tottenham were poor against Chelsea and looked tired after drawing with French club Rennes in the Europa Conference League.
These games prove how important it is for clubs to rotate their players and Liverpool are a prime example with Jurgen Klopp making full use of his squad and he will continue to do so as you will see over the next few weeks. The problem is that many teams do not have the luxury of a second team of internationals sitting on the bench waiting to be drafted in after a big midweek match.
Salah thanks Liverpool fans
Mo Salah has sent two messages to his adoring fans and to Jurgen Klopp. After scoring his 100th Premier League goal his agents reminded the Liverpool board that negotiations for a new deal need to be addressed and quickly.
Klopp pointed out that he is not involved in the negotiations but his star forward is “sharp and committed and he looks really good.” Salah himself thanked the fans and said: “You, the fans, keep me going. You give me more strength than I think you’ll ever know.”
De Gea tells Henderson “I am No 1”
After saving a penalty against West Ham on Sunday, David De Gea has warned his rival Dean Henderson that he is No.1 and will not give up his place anytime soon. Henderson was regarded as No1 last season when De Gea suffered a loss in form and he stepped up, giving impressive displays.
However, after starting the season late because of Covid-19, Henderson has seen De Gea give his best and return to his best form. De Gea said: “I have already played here with many great keepers over my career in Manchester. People like Sergio Romero, Victor Valdes and Anders Lindegaard, great keepers.”
If the fans don’t want me, I’ll leave, says Guardiola
I was rather astonished when the secretary of the Manchester City supporters fan club criticised Pep Guardiola because he called for more support from the fans. “Stick to coaching,” said Kevin Parker.
Pep responded by saying that he never said anything wrong and after the Leipzig Champions League match he simply asked: “Come and support us against Southampton because it is going to be a tough match.” Pep was right as the Saints held City to a 0-0 draw at Maine Road. Now Pep has said publicly that if fans criticise him and don’t want him, he will walk away from the club. I would suggest that the fans remember how lucky they are to have arguably the best coach in football.
Ronaldo changes mansions to get some sleep
Well you really have to smile! Cristiano Renaldo moves into a £6million mansion near Manchester, unpacks his Ballon d’Or trophies, his medals and his memorabilia that other players can only dream of and what happens?
Instead of sleeping soundly in the knowledge that he has returned to perhaps the most famous team in the world on another mega salary, Cristiano finds he cannot sleep in his king-size super upholstered dream bed because there are sheep bleating in nearby fields outside his window. What does Cristiano do? He moves out and into another multi-million-pound mansion. I mean, who wouldn’t? (lol)