VARs beware: Antonio Conte has vowed he intends to widen Tottenham’s new-found nasty streak over the course of the season.
The shockwaves of Sunday’s fiery derby draw at Chelsea are still reverberating and not just because of Conte’s bad-tempered spat with Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel after the final whistle.
Tottenham’s aggressive tactics on the pitch have also come under scrutiny, especially the moment seconds before Harry Kane’s stoppage-time equaliser that saw Cristian Romero pull Marc Cucurella to the ground by his hair.
Mike Dean did nothing about that at the time, but that afternoon’s VAR official has since admitted he should have flagged it up to referee Anthony Taylor as violent conduct.
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Barnsley ditching their crypto sponsor over homophobic tweets was a victory for fan power19 August, 2022Romero will not play against Wolves, Tottenham’s lunchtime visitors on Saturday, because of an injury sustained earlier in that game, by a challenge by the long-haired Cucurella, who has declared he will preserve his long locks. Nevertheless, Conte was keen for whoever does get the nod to carry on where the Argentina defender left off.
“This is a step that I continue to ask of my players,” the Italian said. “Because to be nasty is very important. It means that you need to feel the blood of your opponent and try in a sporting way to kill your opponent.
“You have to understand, when you go to play a game, you can draw also. But at the same time you have to understand if the draw is a success for you or if the draw is [like] a loss.
“If you want to have ambition, you have to think only to get three points and the draw is half a loss for me. I’m trying to transfer my idea, this feeling. It’s important.
“If you want to be competitive, to have ambition to fight for something important you have to improve in many aspects. Also your character has to be strong and you have to understand very well the difference between a win, a draw and a loss. It’s totally different. The win makes you happy, the feeling is good, the confidence goes up. When you lose, for you should have the opposite situation.”
Such thinking has already manifested itself in the £50m summer purchase of Richarlison from Everton. The Brazilian may have 43 Premier League goals to his name but his abrasive character also makes him an irritant to defenders.
“For sure Richy is a player that made us focused, nasty,” Conte said. “He’s a player I like. He’s always into the training session with his mind. For us this is a good sign.”
Arteta: I want Saka renewal done
Bukayo Saka has personified Arsenal‘s improvements over the past year, his own consistency levels and performances echoed by the upturn in results and morale of Mikel Arteta’s young team.
Now the Arsenal manager has said he is “very confident” Saka will soon pen a fresh deal with the club he joined at the age of seven – and also pointed out how he needs to develop.
“I am very confident that we as a club and Bukayo, his family, his agent, everybody, we are very much aligned in what we want to achieve. And now it is about putting it on a piece of paper,” he said.
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“I would like that to get done, because I don’t want the player or anybody distracted while we are in the middle of the season.
“But those things take time and they have to go through the right process, and I think the process has been really good.”
When asked for his vision of Saka in three to five years time, Areta replied: “He has to be a ruthless winner. That’s it. Simple.
“That’s his mentality, that’s what he needs to do. He needs to win football matches on his own, he needs to be living this profession: tomorrow I’m going to kill the opponent.
“And that’s what I want from him. He has this ability now he’s going through a place in his career and he needs to go to the next level right now.
“And I think he has the right environment to do it – he has the right people around him to do it and he’s very willing to do it. So that’s what we have to demand.”
Tuchel in Chelsea contract talks
Thomas Tuchel has revealed he is negotiating a new contract at Chelsea and that he accepts his “improper behaviour” charge from the Football Association (FA).
Tuchel signed his last extension until 2024 shortly after winning the Champions League final in 2021 and he could soon be tied to an even longer deal.
“There are talks,” Tuchel said. “But I think given the situation where we come from, and where we are in the middle of the transfer period, I think it is the very best if I focus on my team and on sports and on being competitive.
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“My people talk to the owners and take care of everything else. You know how glad I am to be here and how much I like it. So it’s a good thing.”
Meanwhile, Tuchel has laughed off any feud with Conte, after refusing to let go of his hand after the final whistle in the 2-2 draw on Sunday, focusing more on the officials who he believed cost his side the win.
He has accepted the FA charge but hopes not to be banned for the upcoming trip to face Leeds at Elland Road. “It is a bit harder to accept given the context that two minutes before somebody of our team got pulled by the hair.
“If we both pulled our hair maybe we would have got away with it. For a handshake suddenly it is a red card, it was after the match and it was more passion than anything else but I accepted the charge we are waiting now for the decision.
“I hope like Antonio that I can be on the side-line, let’s see what happens. In general, we don’t have a history of being involved in arguments. Together we have played three or four times against each other, we had zero issues before and it just got heated up with the equaliser, 1-1 so the last 20 minutes were a bit emotional between the benches which is sometimes maybe also normal and acceptable in a derby like this. But I will be prepared of course.
“As I understand it there is a high possibility that I can travel with the team, go to the dressing room, be there in half time so I’m not always sure if everybody hears me on the side-line so maybe the impact is not bad.”
Klopp vs Agbonlahor
Jurgen Klopp has aimed a withering broadside at former Aston Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor following his comments that Erik ten Hag should quit in the aftermath of Manchester United’s 4-0 humiliation at Brentford.
The Liverpool manager claimed he nearly called TalkSport to complain after listening to pundit Agbonlahor’s criticism on his car radio as he drove home from training last Saturday.
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Agonblahor said: “If I was them now after this game I’d be thinking, ‘You know what, Ten Hag, just pack up’. He’s had pre-season and they have started the season as a shambles, they’re like strangers on the pitch.”
But Klopp reminded Agbonlahor that he was in the Villa team beaten 6-0 by Liverpool at Villa Park in February 2016 and questioned his mentality that day – he was substituted after 58 minutes and Villa were relegated at the end of the season.
“What he said about United, I was close to calling in and telling him, ‘you have forgotten completely that you have been a player’,” said Klopp.
“He lost against us 6-0 in my first year [at Liverpool]. I couldn’t remember him as a ‘mentality monster’ on the pitch. It was unbelievable [what he said]. If ex-players are going already like this, you can imagine how everything else is going.”
Agbonlahor responded to Klopp’s remarks by posting an Instagram picture of when he scored the only goal in Villa’s 1-0 win at Anfield in September 2014.
Ten Hag: Why is Ronaldo the focus?
Erik ten Hag claims that Cristiano Ronaldo is still in his plans as the striker’s Manchester United career balances on a knife edge.
Ronaldo still appears determined to push through his departure from Old Trafford in the current transfer window after a torrid summer at the club.
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Ten Hag is clearly tiring of discussing Ronaldo’s future and his position in his plans, but he did respond to a direct question as to whether he expects Ronaldo to still be a United player on 2 September.
“He’s in our plans, that’s what I can say,” said Ten Hag.
“I don’t know why he’s a particular focus after Saturday, it was the team performance, the whole team’s attitude, including Ronaldo.”
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