And that will be that from me. Thank for your company as ever and enjoy your weekend football, wherever it may take you!
An arrest warrant has been issued for Sheffield Wednesday striker Fernando Forestieri after he failed to attend Mansfield Magistrates’ Court today on charges of using threatening words and behaviour, and racially aggravated harassment.
The offences are alleged to have occurred on July 24 during a pre-season friendly with with Mansfield Town.
Argentina-born Italian striker Forestieri, 28, has been with Wednesday since 2015 after signing from Watford and has scored 32 goals in 88 games for the Championship club.
Some quotes from Declan Rice for you...
I’m absolutely delighted to have got the contract done, signed and to commit my future to the club until 2024. I’m absolutely ecstatic.
Without a doubt, the plan was always to stay at West Ham. I’ve had the support from the fans, from the players and from the manager and now, to get it done and commit myself to this club is a very special moment.
I’m still young, so to put more years on my contract and keep developing here is the best thing for me to do now. With the support of the manager, the players, everyone, it was the right thing to do.
On the subject of defensive midfielders, there are no guarantees Fernandinho will be back for Manchester City on Sunday. John Stones and Ilkay Gündogan haven’t been able to fill the void left by the Brazilian’s thigh injury, as City have lost back-to-back games against Palace and Leicester. He remains a doubt for Southampton on Sunday and with Liverpool looming on January 3, Pep Guardiola *might* even decide to hold him back. Fabian Delph’s red card and Benjamin Mendy’s injury absence also leaves the champions light at left-back but, then again, it should give the underused Oleksandr Zinchenko a run-out.
A few stats kind of emphasising Declan Rice’s form and increased importance to a West Ham team whose midfield was a complete calamity earlier in the season. The teenager ranks fifth among fellow defensive midfielders for successful tackles per 90 minutes (2.7), seventh for headers won (2.4), eighth for interceptions (1.4) and second for shots blocked (0.4). If he can improve his passing game, 44.3 at 84.9% accuracy, he could become an absolute monster of a midfielder.
Updated
Hammers’ fans rejoice! The club have got their act together and Declan Rice has signed a new “long-term contract” until 2024 with an option for a further year.
The 19-year-old has been nothing short of a revelation in midfield this season but was on a £3,000-a-week on a deal that was expiring in 2020. Here’s joint-chairman David Sullivan...
Signing Declan to a new long-term contract is something we have been planning for and working round the clock on and I, the board, the manager and Declan himself are all very happy that everything has now been completed.
He's signed! #RICE2024 🙏 pic.twitter.com/KGOQunMMBc
— West Ham United (@WestHamUtd) December 28, 2018
Updated
As if by magic, this piece from Louis Taylor has just dropped, discussing all things Shelvs and other Newcastle transfer “activity” (in the loosest sense of the word).
Remember when everyone was REALLY angry with Gareth Southgate for not picking Jonjo Shelvey in his World Cup squad? Eight Premier League starts for Newcastle implies that maybe he isn’t England’s midfield messiah, as seemed to be common wisdom in April/May when he was pinging a few nice long-range passes around.
However, despite not giving him much of a platform to do more of the same this season, Newcastle manager Rafael Benítez insists the midfielder is not for sale next month with stories this morning that Fulham are about to offer Tom Cairney in a swap deal.
No. No chance. He’s an important player for us. Ki [Sung-yueng] and him are the players who technically can pass the ball well and keep it, they give confidence to the rest of the team. I hope he will be as important as he was last year.
There’s a big game in the Championship tomorrow as well with second-place Norwich taking on
Derby
Frank Lampard’s Derby. Although both teams have experienced uneasy results over Christmas with just one win between them from a combined six games.
Norwich manager Daniel Farke, who could only field six subs against Forest on Boxing Day and could be without defenders Timm Klose and Christoph Zimmermann plus Emi Buendia, Jamal Lewis and Moritz Leitner.
We have our unity, we have Carrow Road, our spirit and togetherness. We will be rebellious again. It’s an important game and we want to finish strong with a successful result. Both teams are really strong, have good coaches and dominate the ball.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leeds | 24 | 20 | 51 |
| 2 | Norwich | 24 | 15 | 48 |
| 3 | West Brom | 24 | 21 | 45 |
| 4 | Sheff Utd | 24 | 11 | 41 |
| 5 | Middlesbrough | 24 | 8 | 39 |
| 6 | Derby | 24 | 5 | 39 |
| 7 | Birmingham | 24 | 10 | 37 |
| 8 | QPR | 24 | -1 | 37 |
| 9 | Aston Villa | 24 | 9 | 36 |
| 10 | Nottm Forest | 24 | 9 | 36 |
| 11 | Stoke | 24 | 1 | 34 |
| 12 | Bristol City | 24 | 1 | 32 |
| 13 | Swansea | 24 | 1 | 32 |
| 14 | Blackburn | 24 | -6 | 31 |
| 15 | Hull | 24 | -5 | 30 |
| 16 | Sheff Wed | 24 | -10 | 30 |
| 17 | Preston North End | 24 | -4 | 28 |
| 18 | Brentford | 24 | 0 | 26 |
| 19 | Wigan | 24 | -12 | 25 |
| 20 | Millwall | 24 | -10 | 22 |
| 21 | Rotherham | 24 | -16 | 22 |
| 22 | Bolton | 24 | -15 | 21 |
| 23 | Reading | 24 | -10 | 19 |
| 24 | Ipswich | 24 | -22 | 15 |
Just as every Fantasy Football manager signs up Kyle Walker-Peters on the cheap, our match preview has Kieran Trippier to start at right-back for Spurs against Wolves tomorrow.
As good a time as ever for some recommended reading for pieces that went up earlier on the site...
In an extract from his autobiography, John Arne-Riise revisits Craig Bellamy’s love of karaoke and distaste for those who don’t
Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw is out 2018 Footballer of the Year. Find out why in this emotive interview with Bryan Armen Graham
Maurizio Sarri is getting a little annoyed with the lack of activity over Eden Hazard’s contract situation. Something tells me that’s going to continue until the summer and will essentially depend on whether Florentino Pérez says yay or nay
Ole Gunnar Solskjær may or may not include Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku in his starting XI for their match against Bournemouth. With the Cherries winless on the road in their last five, it does seem like a nice confidence-builder for them.
Arsenal manager Unai Emery is doing his best Arsene Wenger impression by revealing he once nearly signed Mohamed Salah
And finally, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is back running around for Liverpool, albeit at Melwood. But could make a first-team return in February.
Not wholly unsurprising news that Christian Kabasele will miss Watford’s game against Newcastle tomorrow. Difficult to establish which part of the body the centre-back didn’t injure after colliding with the post during their 2-1 loss to Chelsea on Boxing Day before being taken to hospital, but it seems to be a rib issue. However, although painful, it hasn’t been deemed serious. Which is good. Javi Gracia also likely to be without Will Hughes (hip), Andre Gray (leg), Sebastian Prodl (knee) and Adalberto Penaranda (foot).
Hats off to BT Sport’s social team for this sort of thing. All over Fekir’s ... then saw Depay’s ... and then Max Arnold’s at the end. My word.
Lionel Messi 👌
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) December 28, 2018
Naldo 🚀
Max Arnold 😱
Our top 🔟 free-kicks on BT Sport in 2018... pic.twitter.com/M9yubKbfrW
Here’s a lovely little match preview for the big ‘un at Anfield tomorrow
Hot on the heels of James Milner missing the Arsenal game, here’s some more pleasing (albeit slightly more long-term) injury news for Liverpool fans, via Paul Wilson.
A nugget of Old Firm injury news with Celtic left-back Kieran Tierney (he being a bit good) “to be assessed” tomorrow ahead of kick-off after missing the last four games with a hip injury. He has trained today. The Hoops also have centre-back Jozo Simunovic available again after a knock.
Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhüttl has been talking all things Manchester City and Pep Guardiola ahead of their game at St Mary’s on Sunday. Hasenhüttl lost 2-0 and 1-2 to Guardiola’s Bayern when he was Ingolstadt coach in 2015/16, the Catalan’s final season in the Bundesliga.
It can be (a bad time to play them) because it’s not normal for Manchester City to lose two times in a row. They have also a few injury problems but so much quality in this squad, maybe missing a little bit of self confidence after being in the lead and losing two times.
I have a lot of respect for Pep. He is a fantastic human, a fantastic guy and a hard worker. He has a very clear philosophy, I think he makes every player a better player.
We maybe have a different style, he is all about ball possession and my philosophy against the ball is more important. I like his enthusiasm and his clear mind in what he wants to play and there are not many managers with these points-per-match statistics in their life.
Following on from the Gonzalo-Higuaín-to-Chelsea reports mentioned earlier in the day, Milan sporting director Leonardo has been discussing the Argentine striker who, since arriving on a season’s loan from Juventus, has five goals in 14 Serie A matches and has failed to find the target for 802 minutes, in all competitions. Higuaín in his one season under Sarri (2015/16) – 38 in 42. His best ever.
We’ve never had doubts about Higuaín, we’ve never questioned his position in this year: nothing has changed.
Chelsea or no Chelsea, there’s been no offer for him. No-one has asked us about him and he hasn’t asked to leave.
He’s a Juventus player, we have an option at the end of the year. There’s nothing else to say. He needs to assume his responsibility and do it on the pitch.
In decidedly less saucy matters, James Milner has been ruled out of Liverpool’s game with Arsenal tomorrow due to a minor muscular injury. The midfielder should be back for the trip to Manchester City on January 3 but a blow nonetheless. That said, Fabinho being officially good now certainly helps.
Cheers Nick. Before delivering any serious news, feel I need to clarify some sauce-related chat earlier. a) Brown sauce on burgers is fine by me; b) No, it was not HP but was merely trying to emphasise the selection on offer at Gosport Borough; c) Yet, to receive anything resembling competition and my brother-in-law has reminded me I overlooked spicy mayo which takes the total up to 13. Anyway...
And with that, I shall depart and hand over to James Piercy for the rest of the day. Be gentle with him. Emails to James.Piercy.casual@theGuardian.com and tweet @Piercy360.
After denying that Wilf Zaha is off to China, Roy Hodgson had some other things to say about their transfer activity:
Obviously we have our targets We have people who we would hope, if they were available, we could persuade to come, but it is all work in progress. Who knows if anything will happen? I still think the most important thing is that we keep building and keep faith with the squad we have. I don’t think we have a bad squad of players.
It would be very nice to add a few new faces, to introduce a bit of fresh blood, some new spirit. But it is a difficult market in January so I am very realistic and sanguine about it all. If something happens I would be delighted. If it doesn’t, I won’t be bleating too much as long as I still have this group of players I have got here to work with.
Just in case you haven’t seen this...
Surely too late now for own goal of the year.
— James Dart (@James_Dart) December 27, 2018
Ascoli goalkeeper Filippo Perucchini: pic.twitter.com/3NCpgzz3DD
For those of you who don’t trust the fake news media when they write down what someone says, here’s a video of Maurizio Sarri on Hazard:
Rafa Benitez is remaining TIGHT-LIPPED about transfers. All of them. No transfers will be mentioned on his watch. He said today:
I decided before I came to the press conference not to talk about the transfer window. I talk with (managing director) Lee Charnley every day, but then I decided not to talk about the transfer window.
Well, apart from that one transfer:
I know some of our players, the agents are telling us this club is interested or another one, but we are not ready at the moment to sell anyone. The only one that now is available in the window is Elliot because the others, at the moment we need them. Obviously, we have too many keepers and we have to manage, but Rob is available in the window.
M-m-m-m-m-match previews: Brighton v Everton.
What is it about the Arsenal job that compels people to announce they almost signed brilliant players but decided against it? You could make a hugely impressive side from all the talent that Arsene Wenger tried to but didn’t sign over the years, and now here’s this from Unai Emery:
News from Barnet now, and John Still has announced his retirement from managing, after 40 years in the game, with the side 15th in the National League. Is it a coincidence that this announcement comes the day after five-time Barnet manager Martin Allen was sacked from his post at Chesterfield?
After winning their last two games 6-2 and 5-1, nobody will be playing Tottenham thinking they’re in for a simple afternoon, but Nuno Espirito Santo is at least going to give facing them a decent go. He said, ahead of Wolves travelling to Wembley on Saturday:
I really enjoy watching Tottenham play. I am very thankful for the compliment and it shows the world what we have been trying to do in creating an identity but it doesn’t mean we will go there with a smile. We will go there to compete. They are in a very good moment, 11 goals in two matches in a very busy moment of the season.
Nuno has the INSIDE TRACK on how Spurs work...well, sort of. He travelled to Hotspur Way in 2015 to learn a few things:
It was after I worked in Valencia and I went to Porto, it was then I spent a day with Mauricio and the staff. I really enjoyed it and I appreciated it. Since then we’ve established a relationship, it’s very nice.
Another one for the game of the year files, and if any Liverpool fans think they’re getting too giddy at their current excellence, have a watch of this.
Anyone still got some cash left from the £10 a semi-distant relative gave them in a card at Christmas?
@NickMiller79 Have some brown sauce Nick https://t.co/XgyuqXQfed
— Henry Joy (@henryjoy) December 28, 2018
Karl Gibbons is here to kick off a scurrilous rumour, capping his email about Cesc Fabregas off by explaining the gag: “With Ramsey off and Ozil deemed surplus to requirements, I was thinking surely Emery would welcome back Cesc to the emirates as the man to supply key passes to Aubameyang and Lacazette…but then I read that it would be Europe, so unless they get him in January, he won’t be staying in London. (As Britain will be crashing out of the EU, in case you hadn’t heard!)“
One fun sub-aspect of the impending January window is hearing managers dismiss transfer rumours that you hadn’t heard in the first place. For the latest in this occasional series, may I present to you Roy Hodgson shooting down talk that Wilf Zaha might be off to Chinese Super League side Dalian Yifang:
I don’t think you sign a four-year contract in the Premier League and then go to China at the age of 26. Maybe I am naive to think that, but we have heard nothing from the club.
Seems like we’ve talked about sauce more than football today. Possibly for the best. Anyway, here’s James Kelly, from Derry:
“This should end the debate here and now. Cheggers, Edmonds & Maggie knew the craic.”
“That said, my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and yours truly bucked ettiequte and duly obliged with a healthy dollop along with our stuffing on Christmas Day.”
Maverick. My own beloved is so fond of Heinz tomato ketchup that she’s been known to put it on lasagne.
Ah, the innocent hope of prospects. The promise of what might be to come, unspoiled by what has come before. Completely illogical, yet pure. Here are some young sportsmen to watch out for in 2019, including a few footballers.
The sportswomen edition was published yesterday, here.
Here’s some more from Maurizio Sarri on Eden Hazard, courtesy of David Hytner:
Good news for Liverpool, and good news generally really, about Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. The man who was really the driving force behind Liverpool’s strong back half of last season, only to banjax his knee ligaments and miss the Champions League final, has some light at the end of the tunnel in his recovery. Jurgen Klopp said today:
Best news. He started going on the pitch and looked normal. We had to wait for the reaction and there was none. No pressure for him so late February/March for him to come back to training.
Here he is looking pretty happy with life on the training pitch a few days ago:
“Just woke up here in Canada,” begins Brian Cruickshank, yawning and scratching his nethers. “When talking brown sauce , we are talking HP sauce, right? Here there are innumerable knock offs , sold as steak sauce (never burger), and they all pale to HP . The fruity version is good too.”
The man who sparked the great brown sauce debate, James Piercy, is currently off getting some lunch (slathering it with all sorts, no doubt) but I certainly hope he’s talking HP.
‘BLYTH SPARTANS OFFER EXPLANATION OVER NORTH KOREA DEAL’ is quite a headline to read as I scan the Press Association news wires. Let’s hear some more...
Blyth Spartans have insisted they are not endorsing the oppressive regime in North Korea after allowing a firm promoting trips to the country to advertise at their Croft Park home.
The National League North club found themselves in the spotlight after photographs of an advertising hoarding for a firm called Visit North Korea were shared on social media.
However, commercial director Mark Scott, who revealed in the club’s match programme that he had set up the deal with Visit North Korea’s Tom Fowdy, a Chinese Studies graduate from Sunderland, insisted the move has nothing to do with the country’s politics.
He said: “We have had a little bit of, not abuse, but a few people making comments. We are promoting a business offering trips to North Korea, we are not endorsing the North Korea regime.
“But as I have said to a few people, if they’re wanting to promote the country and wanting people to visit, surely that’s a good thing?”
Scott admitted that the deal is the most unusual he has been involved in, and that the contact had come out of the blue.
He said: “We were on the way back from Nuneaton Borough on the team bus when I got an email asking about our prices and at that point, I didn’t know where it was from and who they were.
“Usually our advertisers are from a 10-mile radius, the local plumbers and electricians amongst a few bigger businesses.
“Then the guy told me it was all about promoting trips to North Korea and after we had talked about it, there was no legitimate reason to turn it down.”
Mr Fowdy was quoted in the programme article admitting that the link could prove controversial.
In it, he said: “I understand it is unusual and also slightly controversial, but nevertheless I believe the publicity will be of benefit to both parties.”
Abhinav Bhadula has a nomination for his favourite fixture of 2018: “Although I am a liverpool fan, I think the Jan 4-3 against Man City has to be the game of the year from any neutral’s perspective too. It was a classic case of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, or rather two unstoppable objects colliding together. The mere fact that man city were the undefeated team at that point and it was Liverpool’s first game post departure of Coutinho and add to the fact that the telecast we had in India had Peter Drury on the commentary made it even special. The fact the Liverpool will probably go to Etihad unbeaten this season and on top the league just adds to the romanticism. Hopefully it’ll be another classic.”
After the despairing bone-headedness of the Italian deputy PM’s contribution to the racism debate (11.54), by comparison Luciano Spalletti looks like the greatest social commentator to ever live here:
🎙 | #Spalletti: "The disappointment of not being able to play in front of our own fans is great. However, if it can be used to fight this battle then we gladly accept it. Different behaviour is needed and we want to enjoy these matches in a different context." pic.twitter.com/UfhHvQWjE3
— Inter (@Inter_en) December 28, 2018
Getcha match previews: first off the list is the clash of the team who can’t score versus the team who can’t defend, so who knows what’s going to happen. It’s Fulham v Huddersfield.
Uh oh, we’ve riled the Condiments Ultras: “Brown sauce on a burger?” splutters David Flynn. “No wonder the EU is trying to get you monsters out.”
Here’s some actual, real, copper-bottomed transfer news for you: young Everton midfielder Kieran Dowell is off on loan to Sheffield United, who he’ll join for the rest of the season, from January 1. Dowell, a lanky fellow with the most magic of magic wands where his left foot should be, was in the England Under-20 side that won the 2017 World Cup, and was intermittently impressive when Nottingham Forest borrowed him last season.
Marca tend to take some pretty outlandish flyers on some stories, but their latest offering makes sense: they report that Cesc Fabregas is set to leave Chelsea, possibly in January. His contract expires next summer so he’s free to negotiate with who he bladdy well likes, but he might try to bust his way out of there before that.
Marca isn’t specific on where he’s off, other than to say it will be in Europe. Any idle speculation?
More importantly, the Guardian has just announced our footballer of the year: it’s Khadjia ‘Bunny’ Shaw, who you can read all about in this remarkable interview with Bryan Arnhem Graham here:
A reminder of the criteria for this award: it’s not the best footballer in the world. We dealt with those here and here. The Guardian Footballer of the Year is an award given to a player who has done something truly remarkable, whether by overcoming adversity, helping others or setting a sporting example by acting with exceptional honesty. Shaw is our third winner following Fabio Pisacane in 2016 and Juan Mata in 2017.
Hello. Nick back in the seat now. Remember, emails or tweets on your game of the year, or your footballing high/lowlight of the festive season to Nick.Miller.casual@theGuardian.com or @NickMiller79.
Just like Georges-Kévin N’Koudou, after that brief cameo I will be passing you back to Nick Miller and shall return later...
Linn Krämer emails in regarding some ghosts of transfer windows past for Mauricio Pochettino and Tottenham.
“I am a Spurs fan from Israel. I noticed you have not mentioned some players in Spurs provisional squad, and wondered why we have not seen or hear anything about George Kevin-Nkoudu and Vincent Janssen (who does not even have a shirt number this season, and the club did not supply any updates regarding his injury) this season ...I think these players should have had another chance by Poch who wasn’t patient enough with Sissoko and now he is our best CM.
“I think Poch is really desperate for some transfer activity and by completely ignoring them he is making sure some activity on the exit front, and then hopefully some incomings.”
Word on the street, via the always clued-up and plugged-in Rumour Mill, is that both are effectively on the transfer list and a) reduce the squad a little and b) help raise some money for a potential January signing.
That said, completely take the point re: Sissoko and his upturn in form but we knew he can be good (albeit sporadically) before this season. Nkoudou played 26 minutes in a Carabao Cup tie in October following a largely underwhelming loan spell at Burnley. Added to Érik Lamela’s return to regular first-team football and Lucas Moura’s successful adaptation to English football, not sure where he fits in.
I’ve long lived on Vincent Janssen island (inhabitants: 2) but Pochettino seems to prefer Fernando Llorente in the ‘Harry Kane Replacement’ role, and even has Son to play through the middle as well. The Dutchman has also been linked with Celtic, with the Scottish champions a little light on strikers at the moment.
Eden Hazard is apparently perturbed Maurizio Sarri keeps playing him through the centre as opposed to his favoured left-side. Well, it doesn’t look like things will be changing for the Belgian (unless Chelsea make the slightly silly decision to sign Gonzalo Higuaín) with the Chelsea manager speaking earlier...
I cannot see the problem of Hazard in this role, he played four matches as false number nine, and he scored three goals and two assists.
I am really very happy with him in this position, because he’s very able to score, first of all, but he’s very able to open spaces for the team-mates, to come and play with the team-mates.
So at the moment I am very happy with him in this position, but in the future he can also play as a winger of course.
I don’t know if he prefers to play as a winger or a striker, but if he is able to play in the last match in the centre for me it’s not a problem to put him in the centre.
Updated
Hit me with your festive football highlights/lowlights/fears so far, whether at games or munching leftovers in the comfort of your own homes.
Mine was a visit to Privett Park where Gosport Borough beat Basingstoke Town 3-2. Not only a decent game with a fine winner by Pat Suraci but was blown away by the array of sauces on offer alongside the half-time burgers. The four saucemen of ketchup, brown sauce, mustard and mayo were present as standard, but on top of that, get a load of this lineup:
Garlic mayo
Baconaise (me neither)
Mild chilli sauce
Hot chilli sauce
Sweet chilli sauce
BBQ
Burger sauce
Relish
Happy to be proven wrong, but that is Premier League standard in terms of condiment choice.
And, at the risk of sounding like a grizzled old football cynic, it looks like Lucas Hernandez will almost certainly be signing for Bayern Munich at some stage. The Atlético Madrid defender and World Cup winner was linked last week in an €80m transfer (his release clause), which the Spanish club issued a statement to deny, and then Lucas goes and says all this...
There are a lot of clubs in Europe that make me dream, but I will not tell you who and I’m fine good in Madrid. But if I have to leave tomorrow because a project interests me, I would consider it.
I have to think about the pros and cons one to make the best possible decision for me, my family and my career.
Afternoon all, James taking over from Nick here. Granted, it’s not quite Didier Ndong to Guingamp (interesting the Google translate in that tweet below describes him as an “international box-to-box environment”) but Marca appear to be pretty definite today that Manchester City’s Brahim Díaz is following Jadon Sancho out of the door marked ‘lack of first-team opportunities’ at the Etihad and is signing for Real Madrid in a few days for £15m ... keen for thoughts from City fans.
‼️ Brahim Diaz is set to join Real Madrid from Manchester City after the two clubs agreed a deal worth €15m + add-ons. Only the details of the add-ons are holding up the transfer, which should be announced next week. [Marca] pic.twitter.com/PD1DactOok
— City Watch (@City_Watch) December 27, 2018
Here’s Manuel Pellegrini being nice about Declan Rice:
I see Declan work every day and so it is difficult for me to be surprised by him now. He always wants to learn more, he hasn’t had any problems, he has just been focusing on playing.
Then the media started about his contract and his money, but he has never had any problem in that sense. He is always, always working hard and he is just 19 years old. He’s a player who always wants to learn more, and he has got such a bright future ahead of him.
Here’s Sean Dyche, manager of relegation strugglers Burnley, who find themselves in the bottom three and with an eye-wateringly bad defensive record. Only Fulham have conceded more than their 41 goals, and they’ve already let in two more than they did in exactly double the number of games over the whole of last season.
We know there’s a lot of work to be done. We’ve never overthought it. We’ve got to shift the performance levels and we’ve got to stay strong to our beliefs. We defended so well last season and clearly this season at some points we haven’t done. It has to be addressed and it is being.
I’m not stupid, I know our stats. It’s always a challenge season on season getting all the details right. The key moments at both ends of the pitch, you have to be deadly at one end and safe as houses at the other, and we haven’t got that balance right.
Thing is, this sounds an awful lot like the sort of stuff Dyche has been saying all season, and things don’t seem to be improving. He reckoned their performances were getting better and said they were good against Tottenham and Arsenal, which was true to a point, but then they got hosed 5-1 at home by Everton. They’ve got West Ham on Sunday. Big one.
Remember Didier Ndong? The Gabon midfielder that Sunderland sacked earlier this season after he, erm, misinterpreted attendance at training as being an optional extra rather than a relatively basic part of the job?
After a few months without a club it sounds like he’s found new employment, with French side Guingamp announcing they have agreed a deal in principle to sign him. This is conditional on sorting out some form of compensation with Sunderland, and of course passing a medical, which might be a little more stringent than your average given he hasn’t played a game since January and has been without a club since September.
🚨🖋 OFFICIEL - L’EAG confirme avoir trouvé un accord de principe avec le Club de Sunderland pour le transfert du milieu Box to Box international gabonais Didier N’Dong. #tousensembleonvalefaire 🔴⚫️ pic.twitter.com/eLYu7aeIYp
— En Avant de Guingamp (@EAGuingamp) December 28, 2018
It’s the Old Firm this weekend, with Rangers looking for their first win over Celtic since Brendan Rodgers arrived a couple of years ago. Or, depending on how you want to frame it, since they returned to the Scottish top flight in 2016.
“We’re playing against a good team who’ll be well-drilled. We know that we have to bring our best to get the result we want,” said Rangers manager Steven Gerrard, sort of talking like his boys are coming up against some sort of stodgy mid-table outfit like Stoke, rather than the team who have won the last nine league titles.
Meanwhile, there will only be around 750 Celtic fans in attendance, after Rangers cut the away allocation from the usual 7,000-odd due to ‘safety concerns.’
“My feeling always is that it is better in both grounds whenever both sets of supporters are there,” said Rodgers. “However, they are not. There will be about 750 of our supporters there.
“We hope the whole game can pass safely and there’s no issues around that and it is just the football. But it can work for and against you as the home team in that situation, when you have predominately the support in the ground. It can add something to the players either a positive or a negative.”
Good news from Italy, where the racism suffered by Kalidou Koulibaly during Napoli’s game against Inter the other day is being treated with the requisite seriousness by authorities at the highest leve...oh, no, wait.
The country’s deputy Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini, appeared on Italian TV last night and said:
Racism is the stuff of idiots in 2018, but let’s not put everything in the same pot. In the stadiums they also sing ‘Milan in flames’, would that be racism too?
Bonucci was booed by the Milan fans, is that racism? Healthy teasing among fans is not to be considered racism.
If we want to condemn and defeat violence we can’t pretend it’s all the same stuff. The vast majority of the organised fans [Ultras] are good people, those people yesterday are delinquents, not fans. A fan doesn’t go to a stadium with a knife.
What would I say to Koulibaly? That I’d love to see him in a Milan shirt though, he’s very strong.
With thanks to Football Italia for the translation.
Let’s try this: how about your nominations for the game of the year. I nominate Roma 3-0 Barcelona, when the Italian side started 4-1 down and with barely a hope against a Barca team who basically thought all they needed to do was rock up and claim their semi-final spot.
Here’s the highlights, featuring what I like to call Peak Peter Drury. I ask you to pay particular attention to Alessandro Florenzi’s reaction straight after the winner: genuine, unfiltered disbelief, with not a clue what to do with himself. Marvellous.
And here’s the Guardian report from the day:
We’ve been running a series of pieces as the year stumbles to a close about the various flashpoints of 2018. Here are the football ones:
Sid Lowe, on ‘Julen the Brief’, a man who had and lost the two biggest jobs in Spanish football within five months.
Andy Hunter, on Sergio Ramos going all WWE on Mo Salah’s shoulder during the Champions League final.
Here’s an extract from John Arne-Riise’s new book. It is, as you will presumably be delighted to hear, about the time Craig Bellamy attacked him with a golf club. Bellamy...doesn’t come out of this well.
A short interlude to say that if you’re one of the many masochists with a Twitter account, you really must follow @Ftbllrswanimals - it’s a simple concept, in that it only posts pictures of footballers posing with animals. It’s one of social media’s basic, uncomplicated joys.
Niall Quinn pouring a pint for a horse pic.twitter.com/ABZHWng6Qv
— Footballers with animals (@ftbllrswanimals) October 28, 2018
Suzy Wrack’s latest investigation into the abuse allegations surrounding the Afghanistan women’s football team is pretty shocking. Have a read:
The burning question in Brighton at the moment is who will keep goal while Maty Ryan is off with the Australia squad at the Asian Cup. They signed a couple of goalies in the summer - David Button from Fulham and Jason Steele from Sunderland - so Chris Hughton is faced with the agony of choice:
I’ll make the decision as to who replaces Maty. There’s nothing that happens in the goalkeeping department that I don’t know about. I want a tough decision and both keepers have worked really hard, pushing Maty to his high levels.
Karl Gibbons would like to big up Manuel Pellegrini: “This season I have been to see West Ham play a few times (not my club but with a season ticket-holding friend) and they have been very good, yet I feel that Pellegrini has not had any of the media hoo-haa that other managers (Gracia, Silva, Howe et al) get for their exploits. Granted, he has already proven himself over his career and doesn’t need any media backing, but I thought I would email you to that end anyway.
“They are also working with a huge list of injured players. Also, Declan Rice is quality and the fact that West Ham will not stump up the cash to give him a bumper contract is very surprising.”
You may have seen yesterday that Bournemouth captain Simon Francis has banjaxed his cruciate ligament, and will thus miss the rest of the season. Clearly, bad news, but it might be worse for him, in that there’s a reasonable chance this will be it for his substantive career with the Cherries: he’ll be 34 in February, his contract runs out next summer and while you’d like to think his remarkable service to the club will warrant some sort of reward, you wonder how much they will be able to rely on him as a regular starter. At the very least, Bournemouth should be in the market for a new defender in January.
Dejan Lovren reckons Liverpool are pretty good, you won’t be surprised to hear.
“I think experience,” the 29-year-old said when asked what this Liverpool team possess that previous sides did not. “There are quite a lot of players still here and it was like a puzzle, you just keep bringing these players you missed and now I think it’s a perfect match. You feel that in the squad, it’s how it should be. There has always been something missing all these years but I think now we have everything.”
He added: “It’s more only about us and that’s how we should do it always. We have learned from all these previous seasons.”
Some tactical chat from John Delaney (presumably not that John Delaney), also featuring booze.
“I had a weird dream over Christmas that the 4-4-2 made a comeback. Obviously too much rich food and whisky... I’m going for a nice country walk today before I go peculiar.”
If you missed it, Eden Hazard is keeping his eyes on the prize/the football this term before thinking about any potential transfer to Real Madrid, or wherever, in the summer.
To be fair I’m just focused on the pitch, and we’ll see at the end of the season.
Then he was asked about his form...
I’m scoring more goals, I don’t feel I’m playing better, I’m just scoring more goals. I don’t know why, maybe I’m just nearer to the goal. My position is winger. I feel better as a winger, but today I did well as a striker, and against Brighton I did well as a striker. The manager chooses where to put me on the pitch and then I try to do my best.
If you score 100 you want to score more, so I’ll try to score more goals. I’ve scored a couple of good ones through the years, so I can’t choose my favourite.
Here are some words from Mauricio Pochettino about the new Tottenham stadium, and how that will help his boys.
We cannot ask more from our fans, they are doing a fantastic job. The circumstances of that period in the club, we need to be strong and we cannot complain about all that happened. It was not easy to get to Wembley on public transport, it’s not easy.
Maybe they were our fans, but many fans that have come in this period have visited London and, like a theatre, they say, ‘Oh it’s a game at Wembley, I’m going to buy a ticket.’ It’s normal, but our fans feel and they try to increase the atmosphere of the club or the game, but we have a limit too. Our fans tried to increase the atmosphere of the game but in a 90,000 stadium we are limited to 51,000. On Boxing Day we had 45,000. We can’t complain, we need to be stronger and try to deliver our best job.”
That is why when I was asked before, ‘Do you want to move’, I said, ‘Of course, as soon as possible’, because it’s going to be a massive boost for the team. It’s going to be a place where the fans can help the team to achieve more. There is no doubt. I am so happy with Wembley but tomorrow if the new stadium is ready we are going to move to our new house.
To play in your own stadium is the best thing that can happen in your life. The moment the new stadium is ready, if it is my decision, my decision is to move quickly.
You can feel like yesterday when I saw the highlights that the people at Anfield are desperate to win and they are showing their support to the team. Yesterday Anfield was amazing, every game Liverpool play at Anfield is a party and that sometimes makes a difference.
Rumour Mill! It’s here! What thrills lie within?
Some Tottenham team news:
Tottenham will assess Dele Alli ahead of their Premier League game with Wolves. Alli missed Boxing Day’s 5-0 romp over Bournemouth due to a hamstring injury picked up at Everton and will be monitored after training on Friday.
Serge Aurier has returned to full training after a groin injury, but Jan Vertonghen, Eric Dier, Victor Wanyama and Mousa Dembele all miss out.
Provisional squad: Lloris, Trippier, Alderweireld, Aurier, Sanchez, Rose, Winks, Eriksen, Lamela, Moura, Son, Kane, Gazzaniga, Davies, Walker-Peters, Foyth, Sissoko, Skipp, Alli, Llorente.
Here’s a quick news story on Peter Hill-Wood.
And following on from that, some Manchester United team news:
Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez and Anthony Martial remain doubts as Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s Manchester United prepare to face Bournemouth. The caretaker manager has overseen comprehensive wins against Cardiff and Huddersfield in his first two matches since succeeding Jose Mourinho.
Martial scored in the first game but missed the second match through illness, while Lukaku and Sanchez have been unavailable for both so far.
“We’ve not had a lot of training since, so we had yesterday off so today’s the first day back,” Solskjaer said. “Romelu, Anthony and Alexis they were light, light (training) yesterday so hopefully they can join part of the training today and let’s see after how they come through.
“Marcos (Rojo) and Scott (McTominay), they look like they can take part soon so it’s looking better. (Chris) Smalling’s got a sore foot so I don’t think we’ll see him until the New Year anyway - maybe not before Spurs, probably, around about that time but you never know.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjær has LAID DOWN THE LAW to Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku. Well, sort of.
Former Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood has died at the age of 82. The club released a statement earlier announcing the news, with no cause of death specified. He was part of what doesn’t really happen in football anymore, taking over from his father Denis, who in turn took over from his father Samuel. We’ll have a fuller appreciation of his contribution to the club later on.
Let’s start with ten things you could/should/might want to/are thinking about ahead of the weekend’s action.
Morning all. What have you got to tell us? Sure, the idea of this blog is broadly supposed to be the other way around, us telling you stuff, but it’s always nice to make this a two-way street.
If you do have anything of note to contribute, whether that’s about this weekend’s football, football in general, sport in general, life in general, or anything really, the email is Nick.Miller.casual@theGuardian.com, or the Twitter is @NickMiller79.
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