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“Four of the best players ever”, begins Chris Amirault. “Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, and … who’s your fourth? Inquiring minds want to know.”
The only one of them I can say, for sure, I believe to be the best ever in his position: the unreal Sergio Busquets.
Fitba latest: Hearts, five points clear at the top of the SPL having beaten Falkirk yesterday, are now sitting back – and so far, it’s been a pleasant Sunday. Second-placed Rangers trail Livingston 2-0, while Celtic are 1-1 with Hibs; there’s just over an hour gone in both games.
So where it the game? I imagine Spurs will defend narrow and deep, then look to release Kolo Muani in the channels with long passes, or have Xavi slip balls for him in behind. I’d not be at all surprised if Gallagher is deputed to sit on Zubimendi, so he can’t build the play, with the space around him and behind Rice targeted.
As for Arsenal, they’ll want Gyokeres to pull defenders out of position, opening up space for Eze, Rice and Trossard, while Saka, coming inside on Spence’s stronger foot, might look to run by him off the ball and attack the back post.
“I think any XI that Tudor put out today would look very strange and disjointed,” says Alexandra Ashton. “With 13 fit players, it’s really just a game of putting them in the least bad position, not their natural ones. I figure it’ll be Sarr at wingback. Solanke was on antibiotics for some illness, Richarlison is just back from injury, so 19-year-old unproven Souza is our only real option off the bench except for Tel, who has been mostly frozen out by Frank and is likely unfit. This is probably as good as it gets, although I personally would have started Souza.”
I know what you mean, but it is quite weird to look at an XI and have no idea what it is.
And it’s also all over at Kingsmeadow:
You do have to wonder why on earth any manager would work for Evangelos Marinakis, but here we are.
It was quite the finish at the City Ground:
“Vitor Pereira’s just been sacked...” chortles Dave Estherby.
The other big choice Arteta had to make was whether to start Eze or Martin Odegaard, plumping for the former. He’s struggled to get much out of Eze so far this season, not quite certain what to do with a maverick improvisor – it’s a bit like when Tony Pulis signed Tuncay and Eidur Gudjohnsen, but perhaps he’s now decided it’s time to make it work. It’s a significant risk – Odegaard hasn’t been great this season, but Arsenal still play their best stuff when he’s on the pitch, which is one reason I’d have stuck Eze on the flank – but with so many games still to play, it makes sense not to rush him back.
As for Arsenal, following the collapse at Wolves, Arteta makes one change, bringing in Leandro Trossard for Noni Madueke. That means Bukayo Saka’s sojourn in the middle, behind the striker, is over for now – a shame, in mine, as they need him involved in the play as often as possible, and have decent options out wide. Now that you ask, I’d have gone with Eze left and Madueke right – Arsenal need to let opponents, especially such poor ones, worry about them. But as we discussed earlier, change is right there for us, but isn’t easy to effect.
So that’s two attackers, Kolo Muani and Simons, with 58 games for Spurs this season between them … and five goals. The Tottenham WayTM or what?
Sky reckon Spurs are going 4-1-2-3, with Sarr on the wing; that sounds odd, but then so does Palhinha at centre-back. Otherwise, Dominic Solanke, who had some kind of throat situation, is left out in favour of Randal Kolo Muani, who Tudor had at Juve, and who’s managed three goals in 27 appearances so far this season, all of them in Europe.
Back to Tudor’s first Tottenham team, loads of players are missing, injured – Destiny Udogie, Kevin Danso, Lucas Bergvall, Ben Davies, Rodrigo Bentancur, Mohammed Kudus, James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski and Pedro Porro – in that context, Thomas Frank can consider himself extremely unlucky. Even with everyone available, it’s a poor side, but without all those mentioned, how is he supposed to do anything?
And yet it’s also fair to say that his way of playing did not look like one that could be upscaled for a team wanting to dominate, and when you lose the crowd as he did, justifiably so, there’s no coming back. I’ve not a clue who Spurs go to next, though: where on earth do you find a manager players will join for, who plays attractive football that enabled them to compete against better funded, more enticing rivals? Mauricio Pochettino is the only person to do it post-David Pleat in 1986-87, so perhaps they’ll get him after the World Cup, but does he have the same in him again, the English game having progressed without him and Harry Kane now in Munich?
We’ve so much other sport for you it’s an absolute joke:
I’ll level with you: it’s taken me the last 15 minutes to try and work out what on earth Igor Tudor is doing. I’m guessing it’s Palhinha in the middle of a back three, because managers trying to force a 3-4-2-1 on players unsuited to it has such a strong recent history of Premier-League success. I can’t say I’m entirely sure how you can win a football match with two attackers on the pitch but, on the plus side, he and his XI will have to go some to deliver a performance as pointless and as cowardly as Thomas Frank’s lot did when these sides convened at Arsenal earlier in the season. I’m not sure I’ve seen a side asked to do less to record a 4-1 derby win.
Teams
Tottenham Hotspur (a possible 3-4-2-1 that could ba anything): Vicario; Dragusin, Palhinha, Van de Ven; Gray, Bissouma, Sarr, Spence; Gallagher, Xavi; Kolo Muani. Subs: Austin, Richarlison, Tel, Solanke, Souza, Olusesi, Williams-Barnett, Rowswell, Wilson.
Arsenal (4-3-3): Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie; Zubimendi, Rice, Eze; Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard. Subs: Arrizabalaga, Mosquera, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly, Norgaard, Madueke, Martinelli, Odegaard, Jesus.
Referee: Peter Bankes (Lancashire)
Preamble
There’s a therapeutic idea that we create ourselves afresh every day, in full control of the person we are – or, to answer the Stone Roses’ question, we’re not etched in stone but sketched in the sand. It’s a liberating, comforting, affirming – and daunting – reality.
A liberating, comforting, affirming, daunting reality and not one easily inhabited, because changing ourselves is difficult – consider Mikel Arteta, to pick a name at random. His excellent work – albeit with serious boardroom backing – turned Arsenal from a rabble into title challengers but in each of the last three seasons, his desperate, flapping intensity and scalding sense of injustice surely transmitted to team and crowd, wins bringing respite more than joy and anything else disaster multiplied by travesty. We can’t say it’s been the difference; we can say it isn’t helpful.
This season, his air is calmer, but convincing players who’ve experienced him that previously, things were one way but now they’re another, isn’t easily done – especially when you look like you’ve not slept in several decades. More than that, though, demeanour only covers part of our impact – attitude is equally important and until that is altered, Arsenal will remain locked in the image of old Artetz, heavy on organisation and meticulousness but rizz and swag deficient. Seldom is there a sense that anyone is having any fun.
Consequently, a lack of freedom we might also characterise as a lack of confidence threatens to cost them a title they’ve spurned several opportunities to near-enough secure, failing every time they’ve had a chance to increase their lead to insurmountable proportions. And now, with the gap down to just two points, they face an away derby against a Tottenham side fighting relegation and eager to impress a new manager equally eager to impress the world, having had nine days to focus solely on this game.
Ultimately, Arteta has built a team guided by principles of certainty and control, problem being football is an inherently chaotic and improvisational activity. It’s true that, for a while, Pep Guardiola upended this truism, but it was only possible, for the foremost football genius of the generation, first with four of the greatest players ever, then on a budget far in excess of any competitor – and since then, even he has had to change.
It’s true that Arsenal might still set-piece, blanket defence and own-goal their way to the title; if they do, they’ll be champions as deserving as any. But restart prowess and general solidity are not the opposite of expressive attacking and exuberant confidence – rather they underpin it.
So, can Arteta liberate, comfort and affirm himself to give his team the same? He still has time, but also, time is not on his side – and that is what should really daunt him.
Kick-off: 4.30pm GMT
