Neutrals…do you want Arsenal, Liverpool or United?
Jake Livermore for England, eh? Watch the game and send thoughts to theeditor@football365.com
Who do you want in fourth, people?
Assuming that Chelsea, Spurs and Man City take the top three spots in the League (a big assumption, of course), I began thinking who would I like to see take the fourth CL spot.
As a Spurs fan, seeing Everton go on a good run and pip the three of them would be the best option. But discounting that as being highly unlikely, picking between Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd is very tough.
What does the mailbox think?
Japstarr, THFC Hackney (fans of Arse, Pool and Man U need not apply).
[of_poll name=’People’s choice for fourth please…’ id=’238810′]
It’s going to be United…
I started looking at the Utd fixture list until the end of the season. It gave me hope because they have to play four big boys in there and we all know Jose likes to play it safe in these games. Technically speaking our toughest game is against the Toffees up next (don’t worry I’ve already factored in zero points against Palace).
It should be straight forward shouldn’t it? Then I realized the whole Europa thing (and then saw a picture about Sir Alex and perches) and I threw up in my mouth. This is not going to end up well is it?
Even with Coutinho doing an impression of a ghost of his brilliant past, we should do enough in the run in to secure fourth. We all know what’s going to happen though don’t we?
The joy emanating from Mr Morbid as he runs down the touch line actually smiling will be too much to bear.
Barry, Cape Town
Where would Arsenal’s rejects go?
An enjoyable piece, but after looking at your list I have to say…well I went to look at their squad list and there are one or two other players I’d like to address whilst we are on the subject.
Debuchy: Anyone willing to take his wages/China & the USA
Gibbs: I thought Newcastle or Sunderland, but Southampton or West Ham also viable. All those clubs like a English player
Gabriel: No quite physically up to this league, still 26 so should have some resale/marketability back in Spain
Ramsey : He was really good. Then his leg got smashed. Then he was okay. Got really good again. Now. So, given he is a) 26 and b) British I think he’d stick around for at least half a season.
Wilshere: See most of the above and at 25/26 he’s got a chance to come good again. That is if his ankle actually works. If not, West Ham. England International, right age, part of their rebuilding etc. PS: The idea that Coman and Wilshere = Barkley would be maths that a lot of sides could work out. Then do the former.
Giroud: They’d keep him. Not brilliant. But proven. Wrong side of 30 now. Unless of course, as you say the Chinese offer silly cash.
Theo: Southampton/West Ham
Iwobi: Loan somewhere. Spain/France/Germany. Maybe a random AC Milan loan signing if they don’t get their finances sorted
Cazorla: A player deserves credit for re-inventing himself so eloquently. But a Simone midfielder? A Tuchel midfielder? Now 32, free transfer back to Spain beckons (or the USA/China etc)
Sanogo: See Debuchy
Welbeck: Agreed. Even if he’s fit less than I am (and I’ve got inoperable disc degeneration)
Jenkinson: West Ham/Palace. It just feels written. See also decent age/British.
Joel Campbell: Portugal/Spain
Xhaka: Controversial I know. But. He just looks a walking card in an Arsenal system. In a high press model..well… Maybe better to let someone in Germany give you most of your money back.
Coquelin: Squad player or…Southampton/West Ham
Lucas Perez: If Giroud stays, he goes. If he goes, Giroud stays. Simple as that for me
Ox: English. U25. Great engine. He might be kept around to do a Jordana role.
In summary. It doesn’t feel like there is a lot of money to be recovered from those players does it? I know that China might bid £25m for my Labrador these days (and I mean the older one with the dodgy front elbow that serious restricts her stamina work but she can still turn it on, like a gender species swap version of Paul McGrath) but well – Ramsey/Wilshere/Giroud/Theo/Gabriel/Perez/Campbell Xhaka. Let’s be generous and say £150-180m. That is what United spend a season. And how much better have they really gotten? It still doesn’t replace proven Premiership players, in the case of that first four (even if 6.5/10 most of the time). It also doesn’t address the fact that two of your first choice CBs are over 30 now. That Barca might just come and get Hector. And how long could you hang onto Ozil/Sanchez/Mustafi in fifth with the contract situation of the first two and what are they worth?
Any new manager I am sure would look at the whole picture and he’d be a brave man to go into *that* Arsenal board, with no Champions League revenue, and ask them for a total net budget of £300m to buy pretty much 12-20 players (i.e. pretty much a squad).
Matt ‘Waiting for some massive Arsenal fan to debate the individual market values of all the above players to make them add up, by some happenstance of chance and creativity, to the values they place on the Bayern squad whilst completely ignoring a bigger question – why would they sign for you?’ Hanchett
What shall we do with that Arsenal squad?
Whoever is the manager next season, it’s no secret that Arsenal needs an overhaul. Here is my analysis on the squad. Obviously nobody at Arsenal will be paying attention, but maybe some people in the mailbox might have an opinion.
Get Rid:
Sanchez – We aren’t going to be keeping him so get as much cash as possible to replace all the people on this list.
Ramsay – Not suited to the EPL. He would be a star if he went to Spain.
Ozil – I think he will probably want to leave anyway, and like Ramsay, his unique set of skills don’t fit the EPL.
Giroud – His time at the club is clearly over.
Walcott – No explanation needed.
Gibbs – See above
Gabriel – See above
Chambers – He is a good centre-back but for his own career he should move somewhere where he will play more often
Jenkinson – I love the corporal, but he is sadly not good enough.
Debuchy – Will go on a free at the end of the season.
Mertesacker – As much as I like the man, he is not going to cut it. He can stay if he wants to be a player coach though that plays a few games a season.
Cech – Has dropped a level this season. Can keep him if he is willing to be second choice.
Ospina – Not good enough to be first choice. Can keep him if he is willing to be second choice.
Keep:
Koscielny – At times he has been single-handedly keeping the team together.
Bellerin – Assuming we can keep Barca’s dirty mitts off him
Welbz – Great work ethic, scores goals and has all the skills. What more do you want?
Iwobi – A truly excellent prospect coming out of our reserves for once.
The Ox – Keep as long as he plays in the middle. He has been excellent when he has been played there.
Cazorla – As long as he can function, we need him in the team.
Coquelin – Keep him as a back-up choice. His stats are much better than the impression everyone has of him.
Holding – Keep him and play him more often. He is very good. As good if not better than Mustafi.
Xhaka – Great vision and shooting. He is still young and can improve in the areas where he is lacking.
Mustafi – Still young and can improve.
Elneny – He is a pretty good player. Not sure why he doesn’t play more.
Lucas – See above. If Wenger stays, then he probably has to go because Wenger clearly doesn’t rate him.
Wilshere – Good spell at Bournemouth which has helped rehabilitate him physically and mentally. Now let’s see what he can do with some better players around him.
Schezny – Has been excellent at Roma and the experience will have done him good. Get him back and give him a chance.
As for who to replace the top list with, well that’s another matter. Not sure who will want to go to a team that has such a spoilt, unreasonable set of fans…
Adonis Stevenson, AFC
Wait a minute…
You forgot Sanogo! He’s still at the club – no idea what he’s doing but he is still technically an Arsenal player.
Seeing as neither of them seem to play for us anymore maybe Ozil and Sanogo could join Gunnersaurs as mascots. Yaya could hold the cannon and Sanogo the balls.
Graham Simons, Gooner, loves me a bit of Reeves and Mortimer, Norf London
Rashford to Saints please
Never mind Walcott (who I would happily welcome back). Loan Rashford to Southampton next season!
Clearly a big money striker is coming to United in the summer and regardless of whether Zlatan stays or goes, Rashford is likely to play second or third fiddle and struggle for game time to cement his place in the first team. At this point in his career it’s very clear that he has bucket loads of talent and now needs regular game time to develop it and show what he can do.
Southampton and United have a good transfer relation, he’ll get game time and the club plays at a decent level with a track record of developing young talent. In Redmond and Ward-Prowse there’s a core of young English players who Rashford has regularly played with at U21 so settling in should be fine.
Hopefully he knocks in 10-15 goals, getting us back into Europe before going on and having a good World Cup next summer and everyone’s happy.
Tom Saints (Walcott’s wages would be a serious issue though)
Hmmmmm
A couple of days ago Lukaku turns down a contract offer from Everton citing a lack of ambition. Today Everton are heavily linked with signing Wayne Rooney. Coincidence?
Wayne, Manchester
Everton might as well sign me
I’ve been following the ‘Rooney to Everton’ story with interest. Like Wayne, I’m in my early 30s and not of the level required for elite football.
I think these are the main pros and cons of Everton signing me instead:
Pros:
– there’s no bad blood between us; I didn’t abandon Everton as a teenager
– My wages will be a bit lower
Cons:
– I’m a hopeless footballer and athlete
– my global fan base and all round commercial appeal is negligible
I also don’t mind what shirt number I wear, but that’s probably not a deal breaker.
I’ll let you know if EFC get in touch.
Ohio Joe (Spurs), London
Love for Storey and Clough
Daniel Storey’s superb piece on “OBE” (where the words ‘thank you’ somehow don’t bear that article justice) stirred up that emotion I’m sure many felt when Marlon King bent that shot into the top corner of Stephen Bywater’s net – those (many) of us not normally give/prone to crying at football matches couldn’t help but let the tears flow down.
Harking back to the recent set of emails about “sliding doors” moments reminded me of how – even now – I believe Roger Milford robbed Mr Clough of the best opportunity he may ever have had of wunning the one major domestic trophy to elude him. If he’d sent Gascoigne off for his ridiculous, studs up, CHEST-HIGH foul on Garry Parker – and definitely for his shocking lunge on Gary Charles which did for his knee – then who knows? If Tottenham had been down to 10 men and a goal down, would/could they still have won? (For the benefit of Spurs fans, I’ll admit Lineker was blatantly onside, and that other referees might well have sent Crossley off before he could save the penalty!) Would Des Walker never have ended up agonisingly putting into his own goal? Cloughie might have retired that year had he won, and gone out with more dignity than the sadly alcohol-inflicted and weakened sight after the game against Sheffield United…
Ben Williams
…Daniel Storey’s Brian Clough article was excellent.
As I’ve mentioned before, I live near Nottingham, and from my office I can see the City Ground. I moved up here in 2003 for university, so not long before Clough passed away, and remember vividly the local media coverage from when he died, but it was only after that I realised how important he is to this city.
Clough’s legacy is everywhere. There are a surprisingly disproportionate number of fine football writers who support Nottingham Forest (Nick Miller, Daniels Storey and Taylor, for example), who grew up watching Clough’s team; there is a group of pubs who run regular “an evening with” events, invariably with someone who played under Clough (Frank Clark was a recent one). Former players also have columns in the local newspaper; an event to promote I Believe In Miracles ran over by several hours, as so many fans turned out to meet Forest legends, who had all the time in the world for them.
Having not experienced the Clough years first-hand, it isn’t possible to properly appreciate just how deep the feeling is, but it is recognisable. It almost feels like a throwback to another time, when football clubs were part of their local community, players were cult heroes but also entirely human and approachable for supporters. The stories of Clough helping out in his brother’s newsagents are legion, and only slightly less surreal than the time Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy stayed at the Bull, Bottesford and helped out behind the bar.
Perhaps the strongest example of how different things were back then comes from the current incarnation of the team. Duncan Hamilton, in Provided You Don’t Kiss Me, suggests Clough is very much of his time because in the 21st Century no manager would be able to put his views across unopposed in the way Clough used to; another indicator of Clough harking back to a previous era is the relative patience he was afforded by a team in the second tier. Clough took over at Forest in January 1975 and earned promotion in May 1977, the end of his first full season in charge, and 16 months after arriving. In the past 16 months (back to November 2015), Forest have had five different managers; Mark Warburton’s four predecessors have had an average of 27 games each. Also, Clough was in charge for just over 18 years; in the ensuing (almost) 24 years, Forest have had 25 different managers, including caretakers.
I feel obliged to point out that in the city centre there are two statues of semi-mythological figures: one is of Robin Hood, and the other is of Clough.
Ed Quoththeraven
PS everyone who hasn’t already should read Provided You Don’t Kiss Me by Duncan Hamilton, Nobody Ever Says Thank You by Jonathan Wilson, and I Believe In Miracles by Daniel Taylor. They are all brilliant.
…Not some clever or witty comment of today’s footballing issues, just an appreciation of a wonderful piece of personal and professional writing by Daniel Storey on Brian Clough.
The older readers of 365 like myself can vividly remember Clough, his achievements sometimes overshadowed by people’s (and the media’s) interest in his abrasiveness personality and willingness to offer his opinion on virtually anything.
Who can recall his interviews with Michael Parkinson or the terrible impersonations of him by comedians like Mike Yarwood?
But it is his astonishing football record that survives to this day.
Thanks Daniel for a cracking and balanced article on one of football’s true greats.
Roger THFC
…Started welling up three paragraphs in for f***’s sake Daniel.
Nicky
RIP Ronnie
Just wanted to pass on my condolences to the Moran family and Liverpool follows the death of Ronnie Moran.
The PFM term is used negatively, but Ronnie was a true proper football club man. Everything he did was for Liverpool FC and even as a blue I can but respect that commitment and passion to their cause.
Plus, when my school had a game at anfield, Ronnie was there and was so patient and kind and funny to an excited bunch of 11-year-olds getting the chance to play a game at a proper ground. Top man
RIP Ronnie
Matt, EFC, London
…R.I.P. Ronnie Moran. A Proper Football Man in the sense he was steeped in the game and carried himself with the utmost dignity, as opposed to Jonny Nic’s brilliant Keys/Gray PFM parody…
Met him a couple of times down the years in and around the ground on matchday and to be frank he gave me much more time than I deserved and bestowed much more patience on me than was necessary but that was perhaps the mark of the man. May he, indeed, rest in peace.
Gregory Whitehead, LFC
…Devastated…Ronnie Moran has gone. That is hard to take. He joined Liverpool in 1949 and retired in 1998. What incredible service, what loyalty (from both player and club). 49 years at one club. To be involved in the immediate post-war period and still to be there to see the Premier League, Champions League and all involved in the modern game defies belief.
As a Liverpool fan it doesn’t seem possible that Ronnie Moran is no longer with us. He has always been with us. There cannot be many Liverpool fans alive who remember a time when he wasn’t.
After decades in the background the 1992 FA Cup win was his and I will never forget that. My thoughts are with his family and I am so glad the next Liverpool match is home to Everton. There is a lot riding on that game and Everton are bang in form but their fans are the most respectful in the League and there is no-one more fitting to play.
I have to go as it is a little tricky to type with tears in your eyes.
Micki Attridge