Aston Villa knocked Brighton for six in Saturday’s early Premier League kick-off as Ollie Watkins grabbed his first league hat-trick in three years.
Three goals in each half for Unai Emery’s side handed Brighton their heaviest defeat of the season, with a five-goal winning margin enough to see Villa leapfrog the Seagulls into third place in the table on goal difference.
Watkins broke the deadlock after just a quarter of an hour, slotting home a Matty Cash cross to grab his second goal of the season and put his name on the scoresheet against Brighton for the fourth consecutive game.
The home side then found themselves two in front just seven minutes later when a change of possession in the middle of the park fell to Moussa Diaby, whose pass sent Watkins down the left wing and into the 18-yard box before the Englishman cut back across goal, rifling in his and Villa’s second of the match.
And well before the half-hour mark had even been reached, a shot from Diaby was parried by Brighton ‘keeper Jason Steele before the former Bayer Leverkusen winger’s scuffed rebound was bundled in off the helpless Pervis Estupinan.
This left the Seagulls trailing by three or more goals within the first 30 minutes of a Premier League game for the first time.
Ollie Watkins completes the hat trick!
The Aston Villa star becomes the first player since Andy Gray in 1976/77 to score two hat tricks for the club in the same season! pic.twitter.com/xbermWRpXu
The Ecuadorian full-back was run ragged by Cash, and Kaoru Mitoma was not even afforded the chance to make amends, being hooked at half-time alongside the ineffective forward duo of Evan Ferguson and Danny Welbeck as Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi changed tact.
That trio of changes seemed to pay off at first after the interval as substitute Ansu Fati pulled one back for the visitors, but Watkins’ third extinguished any hopes of a comeback before Jacob Ramsey added salt to the wounds with Villa’s fifth goal of the afternoon.
Premier League table
It was Watkins’ second-ever Premier League hat-trick, after he last bagged three in Villa’s 7-2 rout of Liverpool back in October 2020, and the England international also supplied the assist for substitute Ramsey’s peach of a goal – all while national team manager Gareth Southgate watched on from the stands at Villa Park.
Watkins could, and perhaps should, have come away with a fourth in injury time, but Douglas Luiz was there to finish off the left-overs and add a sixth and final goal for Villa, who grabbed their fifth win in seven games to climb into third spot in the league.
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The Women’s World Cup final feels a lifetime away and yet just 42 days will have passed between England‘s heartbreak in Sydney and the new WSL season.
The 2023-24 campaign begins later than usual due to the recent international break, in which the Lionesses beat Scotland but lost to the Netherlands in the Nations League.
That means limited disruption (until the next hiatus, at the end of October, anyway) but will also lend itself to fears over player workload and a schedule that is becoming increasingly intense.
Chelsea will nevertheless be the best equipped to become champions once again, with Arsenal their most likely rivals.
Here’s what to look out for at every club this season.
Arsenal
Nobody could reasonably have expected Arsenal to mount a serious title challenge in a season in which Beth Mead, Vivianne Miedema and Leah Williamson were all ruled out with ACL tears. Accordingly, they fell 11 points adrift, and while the two forwards are hoping to be playing some part before Christmas, Arsenal cannot necessarily rely on them being up to speed.
The voids have been filled well enough, with the additions of Alessia Russo and Canada international Cloe Lacasse, last season’s Player of the Year in Portugal.
The major question is whether they have done enough to bolster a defence missing Laura Wienroither (yet another member of the ACL club) with the additions of Amanda Ilestedt and Spanish World Cup winner Laia Codina.
Jonas Eidevall does not have to contend with European football, at least, his side having been knocked out of the Champions League at the first qualifying round. That will only add to the expectation that they push Chelsea all the way this time around, but the hangovers of last term’s injury crisis are still being felt.
Player to watch: Kyra Cooney-Cross
Aston Villa
Aston Villa proved the great disruptors of last season, finishing fifth – and instead of tailing off there is a real possibility they will have got even better, with arguably the best business of the summer.
Golden Boot winner Rachel Daly will now be complemented by Ebony Salmon, the young England forward signed from Houston Dash in a huge statement of ambition, while Hannah Hampton (who has joined Chelsea) is replaced by Dutch international goalkeeper – and one of the best in the world – Daphne van Domselaar.
Yet the midfield is just as big a selling point; if Jordan Nobbs can stay fit, she is to be found alongside France’s Kenza Dali and Lucy Staniforth, who will be hoping to make an impression on Sarina Wiegman this season.
Player to watch: Ebony Salmon
Brighton
Brighton’s last season was nothing if not chaotic, with five managers (including Amy Merricks’ two interim spells) occupying the dugout. Melissa Phillips took charge with the club bottom of the table and dragged them out of trouble.
The hope this year is not just to stay up but to thrive and the Seagulls already look close to unrecognisable, with 14 players having departed over the course of the summer.
Across the men’s and women’s sides, Brighton remain exceptionally well-run when it comes to recruitment and data has played an increasingly prominent role in their recent business – which has included Champions League finalist Pauline Bremer and new captain Vicky Losada, who won the Champions League with Barcelona in 2021.
Player to watch: Katie Robinson
Bristol City
Shania Hayles will be tested on her step up to the WSL (Photo: Getty)
When Reading were relegated, Kelly Chambers was vocal about the impossibilities of surviving the WSL as the only side without the backing of a men’s Premier League club. It is now Bristol City’s mission to buck that trend. They have started by making 10 new signings – a far cry from the days when the women’s side was close to collapse, without enough players to make up an XI.
They can rely for one more season on centre-back Brooke Aspin, who stays at Ashton Gate on loan after signing for Chelsea, and on last season’s top scorer and Jamaica international Shania Hayles.
Yet the fear is this will be one leap too far for Lauren Smith’s side, who are battling against the odds to compete and there is a danger they will be on the end of some heavy defeats.
Player to watch: Carrie Jones
Chelsea
Five in a row? The Champions League is unquestionably the main goal this season, not least because Chelsea’s domestic success has become predictable.
The task facing Emma Hayes is one of rebuilding once again. Pernille Harder and Magda Eriksson’s departures to Bayern Munich will be felt, but Hayes has done it before and the Blues’ typically busy summer – with Ashley Lawrence and Catarina Macario the headline signings – puts them in a good position to hold off likely challengers Arsenal and Manchester United.
Once, Everton were tipped to break up the big four but their goals are now a little more attainable. Brian Sorensen’s reign has brought stability but improving upon last season’s sixth-placed finish is a huge ask.
Sorensen faces his greatest test yet because of the players he has lost. Gabby George signed for Manchester United on deadline day, leaving no time to address the hole in defence she will leave. Jess Park, who was at the heart of so much of their creative work, returns to Manchester City after her loan.
Rikke Sevecke has also moved stateside, and it is hard not to feel that for all Everton’s attacking potential – notably Nicoline Sorensen and Italy international Martina Piemonte – they are going to ship goals.
Player to watch: Martina Piemonte
Leicester
Leicester looked destined to go down for so long that there is some surprise they are still here – and in fact it is testament to the board’s commitment to the women’s team that they have continued to invest even after the men’s team’s relegation.
The message across the club is that top six will be the aim – though that is hugely ambitious. If there is one person up to the job, it is Willie Kirk, their director-of-football-turned-head-coach who has recruited well.
Aside from Kirk, the medical staff could be the most important people at the club this season. Hannah Cain and Canadian forward Deanne Rose will be vital but both have had their recent careers severely disrupted by injuries.
Player to watch: Deanne Rose
Liverpool
Missy Bo Kearns can stake her claim for a future England spot (Photo: Getty)
Liverpool need to start scoring goals. They scored, on average, just over one per game last season, with only Reading, Leicester and West Ham having less prolific attacks.
The answer, it seems, was to sign the next Ada Hegerberg, the Norwegian goal machine Sophie Roman Haug. The 24-year-old has been on an upward trajectory since leaving her homeland for Roma and judging by her World Cup, she looks ready to hit the ground running in the WSL.
Liverpool’s other star asset is Missy Bo Kearns, no doubt a future England midfielder. And the Reds’ campaign will ultimately be decided on the pitch, not off it, in spite of the excitement that they are no longer training at Tranmere after moving to Melwood’s state-of-the-art facilities.
Player to watch: Fuka Nagano
Man City
“Why put a bomb under it?” Gareth Taylor was relaxed looking back at how Manchester City fell short last season. Missing out on the Champions League was by no means disastrous – City only finished fourth on goal difference and can focus fully on the WSL.
Taylor only ever planned to bring in one new signing and has certainly achieved quality over quantity with the addition of Netherlands midfielder Jill Roord – a stark contrast from last summer’s mass overhaul which led to an underwhelming start.
Mary Fowler is expected to play a greater role after starring in Australia’s extraordinary World Cup run, with England defender Alex Greenwood in the form of her life at the tournament too.
Player to watch: Jill Roord
Man Utd
Toone has lost her connection with Russo (Photo: Getty)
For all the frustration of another summer under the Glazers’ ownership, perhaps the biggest coup was not in any new additions but in keeping Mary Earps out of Arsenal’s clutches after a record bid.
Having lost Lauren James, Ona Batlle and Alessia Russo in the last two years, Earps’ exit would have been a PR disaster too great and would likely have decimated United’s hopes of another second-placed finish. Balancing the Champions League will be a challenge for Marc Skinner, though he has added to his attack with Japan star and World Cup Golden Boot winner Hinata Miyazawa.
Without Russo, Leah Galton and Nikita Parris will be required to step up – but the front line may stand or fall on Ella Toone’s intermittent form.
Player to watch: Leah Galton
Tottenham
Tottenham will have to find a happy medium between the over-reaching of Rehanne Skinner’s early reign – when they finished fifth – and last season’s catastrophic near-relegation. Robert Vilahamn takes over with a mission firstly to transform the way Spurs play, and the Swede – a champion with former club Hacken – is not targeting a specific place in the table. Performance over results is the priority, so long as Tottenham look a more coherent with a clear identity this time around.
They will have to cope without Beth England for now, as the Lionesses striker recovers from hip surgery, but they have signed Scotland forward Martha Thomas from Manchester United. Crucially too, Kit Graham and Ria Percival will be closer to full fitness after their ACL injuries.
Ashleigh Neville will remain key, whether Vilahamn uses her as a full-back or on the wing.
Player to watch: Martha Thomas
West Ham
It is a new era for West Ham after Paul Konchesky was sacked in May, replaced by former Spurs boss Rehanne Skinner. “No d***heads in the building” is her philosophy, she says, but all eyes will be on whether her side have made tangible improvements.
When Konchesky was sacked, they had won just once since December and were really only not dragged into a relegation battle because there happened to be four teams worse. Lucy Parker, who joins Aston Villa, and Grace Fisk, who heads to Liverpool, are the most notable departees. West Ham only have four new arrivals in turn (Katelin Talbert, a fifth, heads straight out on loan) and they may not have done enough to consolidate
Skinner has potential to draw upon, though, with Dagny Brynjarsdottir as always leading from the midfield.
Player to watch: Jessie Stapleton
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No intention either, i understand, of cashing in on Ivan Toney in January – despite a flurry of speculation linking him with Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and most recently Chelsea, a club desperately in need of a prolific goalscorer.
i can confirm that Newcastle United are also firm admirers of their former striker, having begun drawing up a list of forward targets for future transfer windows which include the 27-year-old.
There is no interest in selling him and no deep concern that his contractual status – his deal is up in the summer of 2025 – makes it necessary to cash in on him in the coming months. An £80m valuation has been mentioned but Toney could be worth more given the shortage of players in his mould in European football at the moment.
Toney returned to first-team training last week and is said to be looking sharp and motivated as he eyes a run for England’s Euro 2024 squad after narrowly missing out on the World Cup last year.
Much has been made about Toney switching agents over the summer and he is now a client of the powerful and well-connected CAA Stellar agency.
But i understands there was not a single enquiry about Toney over the summer and there has been no contact recently either, despite the links with Chelsea and Arsenal.
The speculation arrives in a period when Brentford are struggling for goals and head to Nottingham Forest looking to snap a run of four games without a victory.
They delivered a much-improved performance against Arsenal in midweek but were knocked out of the League Cup. However, as i reported last season, they are a club that pay attention to underlying metrics rather than the league table, which they believe can be skewed by good or bad fortune.
Toney has eight months left on his ban from football (Photo: Getty)
There has been plenty of the latter. The Everton defeat last weekend was wretched but injuries provide plenty of mitigation for the 3-1 reverse.
Frank had to change his starting line-up at the last minute after Kevin Schade suffered an injury in the warm-up and the Germany international now faces “months” on the sidelines.
He is joined by Rico Henry – on the verge of an England call-up before his potentially season-ending knee injury – Ben Mee and Mikkel Damsgaard in the treatment room. When some of those players return, the form surely will too.
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In October 2021, Ange Postecoglou was forced to revel in “adversity”. He insisted “there was nothing wrong with it”, and few even remember it now after his back-to-back titles, but Celtic were on a run of two wins from eight games. Chris Sutton leapt to his defence, dedicating column inches in Scotland’s national newspapers to why Postecoglou should not be sacked.
The Australian’s start in Glasgow was turbulent; his time in north London has been anything but. Last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal felt like a microcosm of his reign: lots of goals at both ends, nobody was entirely sure what the result would be, but it was a lot of fun – and his players were not giving up either way.
Tottenham Hotspur are no longer “Spursy”, as James Maddison put it after his two assists. “Soft, weak, bottle it… all that rubbish.”
Those tags have often been used lazily. But their record against the rest of the “Big Six” on the road has been famously woeful – they have lost 41 of their 65 away matches against the Manchester clubs, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea.
If you throw in Newcastle United to turn the Big Six into the “Magnificent Seven”, in Spurs’ 12 encounters with the Premier League‘s elite at home and away last season, they won just twice, beating Chelsea and City. There were just two draws and six defeats, with 14 goals scored and 21 conceded. There was a time when Tottenham believed they could go toe-to-toe with anybody. It seemed to evaporate overnight.
The gap between Spurs and the sides they once found themselves competing with for Champions League qualification was no surprise by the end of last season.
It is too small a sample size to glean much from Postecoglou’s four points from his two Big Six matches so far, particularly in light of Manchester United’s wider form. Yet something has changed stylistically.
Spurs’ expected goals (xG) against the Big Six is up, albeit only marginally, from 1.35 to 1.55 and they are pressing more effectively from the front overall – only Liverpool and Crystal Palace are attempting more challenges in the attacking third, with only United actually gaining possession more often in that area of the pitch.
It is a marked contrast from Antonio Conte‘s approach and has already borne fruit.
Since the Mauricio Pochettino years, last weekend was the first time Spurs had claimed a point at the Emirates – and only once in the last five years have they travelled across north London and enjoyed more of the ball. They maintained their high line until the final whistle.
Liverpool may be the biggest test yet, of the intangibles as well as the cold, hard data.
“There’s the football side of it,” Postecoglou explains, “but there’s also trying to build the spirit and character and resilience within the group.”
While Conte ranted about his players’ lack of fight, this season his former side have already claimed eight points from losing positions. In the whole of 2022-23, they took 15.
Postecoglou’s side have fallen behind to Brentford, Burnley, Sheffield United and Arsenal and won the first three, drawing the last.
In theory, Spurs could fail to shake a tag of “Big Six bottlers” and it would matter little. Nobody can be quite sure what the aim is this season – Postecoglou says he is happy to let fans dream with his side just four points off the summit – but is possible to pick up more than enough points elsewhere and finish in the top six.
Postecoglou’s record against the Big Six is not everything, but it is another pointer to an immense cultural shift. “It looks like we are happy,” says Pedro Porro. “And when you have happy players, it shows differently on the pitch.”
Beat Liverpool and there would be more than just green shoots – Spurs would be proving they are back in the big time.
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Sheffield Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri is no stranger to sending long, rambling missives for staff to post on the official club website but even by his standards, this one was incendiary.
The key takeaway is that he will not put any further money into the club after taking umbrage against protests aimed at his stewardship of the Owls. But there is clearly a lot more going on here.
The statement opens with the phrase “Dear Sheffield Wednesday fans” but reads like he regards them as anything but.
“I am the one who saved the club and spent the money for the club, I am the one who needs to pay around £2m on average every month,” he says.
“Some fans need to have more respect for owners of clubs and not be so selfish, thinking of their own benefit without doing anything good to the club.
“Those fans who create trouble to the club and myself and believe that they are the real owner of the club need to be responsible for the financial matters of the club from now on.”
It is the latest skirmish after a summer of discontent at Hillsborough that has cast a long shadow over their miraculous promotion from League One last season. That heady evening in May when they overturned a 4-0 first leg deficit to beat Peterborough in front of an ecstatic, unbelieving home support is now firmly in the past.
First there was the departure of Darren Moore, an exit that was drenched in acrimony amid claims and counter claims about his contract demands. Chansiri promised a fans forum that they would not have to Google the name of his replacement and eventually alighted on Xisco Munoz, the former Watford manager fresh from a spell in Cyprus with Anorthosis.
The Spaniard has made an inauspicious start, the club bottom of the table and winless ahead of Friday night’s visit of Sunderland. But it is the club’s decision to jack up ticket prices – devising a complex system that fans believe will grade prices depending on how well the team is doing – that proved the final straw for many supporters. The most expensive seat in Category A is a breathtaking £59.
A newly-formed fan collective – the 1867 Group – has led calls for change and a tennis ball protest during a recent home game against Middlesbrough is understood to have stoked Chansiri’s ire and led to his decision to refuse to pump any more money into the Owls.
“Potentially catastrophic for the club” is how Ash Rogers, host of popular Owls podcast The Wednesday Week, views that call. “100 per cent I am worried about what comes next,” he adds.
With little clarity over what precisely Chansiri means by refusing to put any additional funding into the club, supporters are obviously concerned about the future.
Anthony Musaba looks dejected following the 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough (Photo: Getty)
The £2m a month that the owner claims is required to prop up the club is, Rogers says, down to Chansiri’s own mismanagement.
“It feels a bit like blackmail. That’s a hard thing to say but that’s how it feels to us,” he tells i.
“Abuse of his family or him personally is wrong, it’s out of order. That’s probably the only thing in the statement that all supporters will agree on.
“I’m sure there is debt there but it’s not like he has been there a year or 18 months, he has been owner for eight years. There’s a reason he is putting £2m in and it’s not because fans haven’t turned up, bought shirts and whatever.”
Wednesday’s predicament is that Chansiri continues to hold their fate in his hands. Currently in Thailand and half the world away from what is going on in South Yorkshire, it appears as if the fissures between fanbase and ownership will only grow.
A US-based Owls fan, Adam Shaw, pulled together a consortium that he said wanted to buy the club but Chansiri’s statement said he had not been shown proof of funds.
“If anyone wants to buy the club, they should act professionally and follow the correct process,” he said.
Now there are fears that the situation will get worse. A call from influential midfielder Barry Bannan for unity between fans and players came 24 hours before Chansiri’s statement kicked up a hornet’s nest.
“What with the results on the field, dissatisfaction with the manager, ticket prices, it’s just a melting pot of everything that could go wrong, is going wrong,” Rogers says.
“And then the owner has just gone ‘I’m going to turn the heat up a bit more’ by releasing these statements.”
Rogers thinks putting “football people” in key positions and setting up a structure at the club would help heal some of the scars. A regular line of communication from owner to supporter groups is clearly required rather than ad hoc, risible statements.
But requests from local media to speak to Chansiri, who is currently in Thailand, have gone unfulfilled by the club and further protests are planned.
The stark truth is it feels like a long battle for the soul of Sheffield Wednesday is only just beginning.
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West Bromwich Albion‘s managing director has reached out to a company that owes the club £5m in an attempt to find out when or if it will be repaid – with players currently needing to be sold to keep the club operational.
Hong Kong-based Wisdom Smart is under the ownership of West Brom owner Guochuan Lai and the loan was granted around two years ago to aid his other businesses affected by the pandemic.
But it is yet to be repaid. It was effectively written off by the club’s auditors in the latest accounts, although a statement on West Brom’s website insisted that “Guochuan Lai has repeated his assurance to the club that the loan and accrued interest will be repaid”.
i has learned that Mark Miles, who was appointed as managing director in July, has now written to West Bromwich Albion Group, the club’s parent company, to find out if the money will be returned. Officials from WBA Group are attempting to contact Wisdom Smart.
Lai has missed several self-appointed deadlines to repay the loan.
Following huge pressure from fan groups – including campaign group Action For Albion and Shareholders For Albion (S4A), a group of around 400 fans who own the remaining 12 per cent of West Brom – Lai has put West Brom up for sale.
Miles has recently become actively involved in finding a suitable buyer, alongside WBA Group director Xu Ke, for a club that has played in the Premier League for nine seasons since 2010.
One West Bromwich Albion shareholder, speaking to i on condition of anonymity, described the club’s recent history as “a story of financial gymnastics, mysterious loans and unanswered questions”.
The issue has been raised in Parliament by local MP Nicola Richards while Action For Albion founder Alistair Jones and S4A chairman Leigh Kent also discussed it with West Midlands mayor Andy Street.
The financial difficulties of recent years have left the club needing to sell players, as soon as the January transfer window, in order to remain operational. West Brom had been looking to offload players during the summer transfer window, but found clubs made derisory offers for their players, possibly trying to take advantage of their financial position.
West Brom are now in their third successive season in the Championship and the tens of millions in parachute payments – paid by the Premier League to support clubs relegated from the top flight – have ended, leaving them in troubling economic times.
The club’s wage bill has decreased by 16 per cent, but needs to be further reduced, i has been told.
Nevertheless, the club has still sold in excess of 18,000 season tickets for this season – the most in 15 years – and has found that around 30 per cent are owned by fans under the age of 20, suggesting they are attracting younger supporters.
After eight Championship games this season they are 13th in the table, with two wins, two defeats and four draws.
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Manchester United winger Antony will return to training and be available for selection again as he continues to co-operate with police inquiries into allegations of violence towards women.
The Brazil international strongly denies the accusations made against him and attended a voluntary interview with Greater Manchester Police on Thursday, having returned to England earlier this week.
Antony was given a leave of absence on 10 September, delaying his return to the club, but United confirmed that the 23-year-old will now rejoin training with a view to returning to Erik ten Hag’s side. However, he will not be involved in Saturday’s Premier League clash with Crystal Palace.
A statement released by the club on Friday said: “Since allegations were first made in June, Antony has co-operated with police inquiries in both Brazil and the UK, and he continues to do so.
“As Antony’s employer, Manchester United has decided that he will resume training at Carrington, and be available for selection, while police inquiries proceed.
“This will be kept under review pending further developments in the case.
“As a club we condemn acts of violence and abuse. We recognise the importance of safeguarding all those involved in this situation, and acknowledge the impact these allegations have on survivors of abuse.”
Antony is facing several accusations of physical aggression towards his former girlfriend Gabriela Cavallin, who spoke to Brazilian outlet UOL earlier this month.
The winger has denied those allegations, as well as further assault claims made by Rayssa de Freitas and Ingrid Lana.
He has not been arrested or charged in either Brazil or by GMP and he left the voluntary interview, where he presented evidence to support his strenuous denials, without any restrictions.
United say they will monitor the situation while police inquiries continue.
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No Premier League goals in 285 minutes. Defeat to Aston Villa signalling their worst start to a league season in 45 years. Nine senior players out injured – currently the most of any side in the league. Two more suspended for the trip to Fulham on Monday.
The unwanted records, statistics, hard truths and problems are piling up on the desk in Mauricio Pochettino’s glass-walled office at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground, right next to the large bowl of lemons he believes, if they are just given enough time, will soak up the bad energy and turn around his team’s fortunes.
But is it – just maybe – not as bad as it seems on the surface? Bear with me on this one.
The fundamental principle of co-owner and chairman Todd Boehly’s billion-pound project is signing the world’s best young players on long contracts so they can compete for trophies now and long into the future.
Boehly’s unprecedented wade into the transfer market has left Chelsea with the youngest squad in the Premier League – the average player age of 23.7 years old almost a year younger than next youngest Arsenal. And so many of their key players are, in footballing terms, practically children.
Their attack hinges on Nicolas Jackson, who only recently turned 22. With Reece James and Ben Chilwell injured, their captain against Aston Villa was Connor Gallagher, who is 23. Even when fit, captain James is also only 23.
Enzo Fernandez, the £106m midfielder tasked with making the team tick, is 22. Back-up right-back Malo Gusto, sent off for a reckless and unnecessary challenge against Villa, is 20.
Levi Colwill is a potential England centre-back but is still only 20. Record £115m signing Moises Caicedo is 21.
It all requires a careful manager who can turn young, inexperienced players into trophy winners and Champions League regulars. That’s the idea, anyway. But if there’s a coach who can make this work, it’s Pochettino.
“It’s a difficult era for managing footballers,” Pochettino wrote in his 2017 book, Brave New World.
“These days you have to spell it all out for them if you want them to be comfortable, as if everything were plotted on a map.
“Managers nowadays are more like architects or highway engineers. You spend the day mapping out and reminding them of the journey because footballers’ concentration spans are shorter and shorter. The electronic gadgets surrounding us are to blame for the players constantly needing new sources of stimulation, so we have to aim for variety and try to keep their minds fresh.”
There’s a subtle but important distinction here between Pochettino’s perception of young players and the notion, believed by many in the older generations of managers, that young players can’t handle criticism and must be wrapped in cotton wool.
Pochettino isn’t afraid of giving his young players some tough love (Photo: Getty)
In Pochettino’s view, while players need everything carefully planned for them and enough fun and variation to keep them engaged, he will not hold back from being tough on them and has every confidence they can take it.
As one story goes, at Spurs during the 2016 preseason, not long after they had challenged for the Premier League title and qualified for the Champions League, the players were caught out by one such bollocking. Everything had been going fine on a tour of Australia until Kyle Walker turned up late for a team meeting, and Pochettino lost it.
It is thought to have brought back memories of the way the players capitulated when the title was no longer attainable after that ferocious Battle of the Bridge draw with Chelsea. In the remaining two games they lost to Southampton and were thrashed away to Newcastle on the final day.
Pochettino felt Walker’s lapse time-keeping was indicative of a group of players who were letting their standards drop after working so hard. They had recently played a friendly against Atletico Madrid and Pochettino showed them a video clip of Fernando Torres chasing after the ball well into stoppage time.
Torres was a World Cup and Champions League winner in the twilight of his career and had been travelling for around 30 hours before the game but he kept running until the very end, Pochettino pointed out. And his side were winning!
Pochettino told his players they should be ashamed of themselves for the way they finished last season. And if his intention had been to continue driving them onwards, it worked. They finished in the top four for three more seasons, and reached the Champions League final.
Back at Chelsea, after Jackson was suspended for one game for an accumulation of needless yellow cards and Gusto was banned for three for a needless bad tackle, Pochettino told his players they need to grow up and take some responsibility.
Armando Broja is the only striker available to replace Jackson and he has played 14 minutes of football in 10 months, due to injury. Oh, and he’s just turned 22. There’s no obvious cover for Gusto and James.
These are trying times, but Pochettino’s methods have worked before and they will work again.
There are small signs in training. Such as with Mykhailo Mudryk, who is slowly rebuilding confidence that has taken a battering. Pochettino and the young Ukrainian play games of crossbar challenge – seeing who can hit the crossbar from the edge of the box the most times – offering him some little wins, provided he earns them (Pochettino is quite good at it!).
And then there are the statistics that paint an entirely different picture to the one laid out at the beginning of this column.
This season Chelsea are seriously underperforming in their xG – the goals they should score based on their chances – and when the number gurus at Opta Analyst ran an Expected Points model this week it returned the verdict that Chelsea should be fourth, not 14th.
Maybe those lemons – and Chelsea’s manager – simply need a little bit more time.
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David Seaman first realised something was wrong when he kicked a ball during training one morning and his heart started pounding furiously.
Seaman was 39 years old, had played hundreds of games, won several trophies, spent 15 years with the England team, including four major tournaments as No 1, yet had never experienced anything like this in his life. He was extremely fit and ate and drank in moderation – a beneficiary of the sports science and nutrition revolution years under Arsene Wenger. But what was happening to his body was terrifying.
“When your heart starts racing like that you’re like, Woah, what is this? It’s a really strange feeling,” Seaman says.
He went to see the club doctor immediately and was hooked up to wires and machines while a series of tests were performed, including lying on a bed having adrenaline pumped into his veins. Then he was sent to Harley Street where he met a heart surgeon called Dr Wyn Davies.
Seaman was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation – an irregular heartbeat – and decided to undergo a surgical procedure known as an ablation. Seaman was awake while Dr Davies entered his veins via the groin to access the heart, where he tried to “freeze” areas to break the electrical signals that cause the problem.
“It’s a weird feeling,” Seaman says. “I was watching it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Unfortunately for me it didn’t. The heart surgeon said to me, We can try again but it can be dangerous. Or you can just take two tablets. So that’s what I do.”
Seaman has lived a healthy life for two decades since, celebrating his 60th birthday this month. “Still going strong at 60!” he says, with a deep booming belly laugh that provides a joyful backdrop to much of our interview. How does it feel to hit his sixth decade? “It’s all right. It’s just a number – but it’s a big number! Hahahahaha!”
Seaman has decided to discuss his heart condition in-depth for the first time in a national newspaper to encourage others to get checked out and not to feel uncomfortable discussing the subject.
He is the face of the British Heart Foundation’s Spotlight On campaign, posing at the centre of a powerful image showing 180 empty seats, at Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park stadium, shaped into a heart to represent the number of deaths in the UK caused by coronary heart disease every day.
“Luckily, I had a sign that told me something was wrong,” Seaman says. “But we all saw what happened with Christian Eriksen.” The midfielder collapsed during Denmark’s Euro 2020 game against Finland and received CPR after his heart stopped. “This guy is super fit, but if you don’t have any symptoms and it’s not diagnosed how are you going to know?
“That’s what the campaign is about, making people aware what could go wrong. Most of the time it’s too late. That’s the thing about hidden heart conditions. If there’s any family history, get checked out.”
Latest BHF statistics reveal that while 88 per cent of people worry about developing a heart condition, 85 per cent were unable to identify all factors that caused heart disease, such as smoking, insufficient exercise and obesity. Almost a quarter still consider discussing a heart problem as taboo.
“Nobody has any problems servicing or MOTing their car,” Seaman says. “Why not sort yourself out? I think the main thing is people are scared. It’s your heart, if that’s not working properly then there’s going to be trouble.”
Following Arsenal during the past two decades can’t have been good for the heart, but Seaman’s enthusiasm for his former club has not dimmed since he retired. And it is perfect timing to discuss the new innovation in his department at his old club.
Arteta then threw a curveball into goalkeeping theory when he said he could rotate his goalkeepers during matches. Seaman is watching with interest, although he isn’t convinced yet.
“Would I have liked it? No. I wouldn’t have played as many games. It’s a totally different way of looking after your goalkeepers. If I’m puzzled then everybody else should be!”
He recalls a conversation he shared recently with Peter Schmeichel, the legendary Manchester United goalkeeper. Schmeichel didn’t even like having a good backup goalkeeper, Seaman explains, let alone someone who might replace him during matches.
“Peter wanted to know he was always going to be No 1. When Arsenal signed Richard Wright while I was there it made me more determined. There’s two different ways of thinking there.
“Now Mikel is talking about rotating the goalkeeper. Aaron came off the back of a great result with England against Scotland, then he finds himself on the bench.”
Ramsdale played Arsenal’s first five games, Raya played the next three and was replaced by his counterpart for the Brentford game on Wednesday.
“Then what happens? Does David stay out or come straight back in?”
I point out to Seaman there are parallels between his own arrival at Arsenal from Queens Park Rangers for a British record £1.3m – “£1.3m – they’re earning that in a week now aren’t they? Hahaha!” – and Raya’s move.
By 1990 John Lukic had played more than 200 times for Arsenal and was popular with supporters, but manager George Graham wanted Seaman. “The Arsenal fans didn’t want me at the time,” Seaman recalls.
“I remember playing for QPR against Arsenal while all this speculation was around, the Arsenal fans were singing to me ‘You’ll never play for Arsenal!’ and I was thinking, I bet I do because I’ve already signed the contract! Hahaha!”
Even stranger was that Seaman and Lukic, two years his senior, were close friends. “We came up together through the Leeds academy. Then a few years down the line I go and nick his job at Arsenal. It was a really weird situation.
“It helped that in my first season we won the league and I only let in 18 goals. The fans saw what I could do.”
He adds: “Goalkeeper a position where mentally you’ve got to be so strong. You can play great all game, make one mistake, and everybody remembers that one mistake. I’ve got that experience, I’ve got a couple of them. It can be lonely. But you need to be playing.
“This is where the conflict comes in with the two goalkeepers at Arsenal. They both want to play. Will that bring the best out of each other? If all of a sudden one guy is getting more games than the other how’s the other one going to feel? That could lead to problems.”
Following a season in which Arsenal led the Premier League for 248 days only to fall away at the end, whether the goalkeeping tactic is a stroke of genius or the overthinking that can afflict Pep Guardiola, Arteta’s mentor, remains to be seen.
How, then, does this current Arsenal squad compare to the best teams he played alongside?
“I’ll let you do that comparison,” Seaman says. “I’ve got nine winners’ medals mate!”
The British Heart Foundation and David Seaman are shining a spotlight on hidden heart conditions. To find out more or donate, visitspotlighton.bhf.org.uk
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Fenway Sports Group have sold a minority stake in Liverpool to US-based sports investment firm Dynasty Equity – but the money will be used to stabilise the club’s finances rather than go towards Jurgen Klopp’s January warchest.
There has been no confirmation of the value of the deal but it is understood to be worth between £82m and £164m and it officially brings FSG’s search for new investment to an end.
While there was a brief buzz about the club being up for sale last year, the preferred intention was always to bring in minority investment to put the club on a firmer financial footing and “ensure future growth”.
The watchword at Anfield appears to be stability. With Klopp’s position as secure as ever, there is now certainty over the club’s future ownership and their finances are back in the black.
FSG president Mike Gordon said: “Our long-term commitment to Liverpool remains as strong as ever.
“We have always said that if there is an investment partner that is right for Liverpool then we would pursue the opportunity to help ensure the club’s long-term financial resiliency and future growth.
“We look forward to building upon the long-standing relationship with Dynasty to further strengthen the club’s financial position and sustain our ambitions for continued success on and off the pitch.”
Fans hoping for a boost for future transfer windows will be disappointed. The investment is primarily about sustainability and clearing debts.
Indeed the club’s statement pin-pointed the areas it will go towards – largely, paying off bank debt incurred during the pandemic and paying for capital expenditure including the club’s new training centre and repurchase of their Melwood training facility.
Effectively that means the money raised by the sale has already been spent.
Dynasty Equity is a New York-based firm that works with clubs and leagues but they are likely to take a backseat role at Anfield.
Dynasty’s chief executive officer, K. Don Cornwell, said: “Liverpool is one of the most iconic football clubs in the world with a passionate fanbase and significant global reach.
“Dynasty is privileged to support the club and work alongside FSG to execute on the tremendous growth opportunities ahead.”
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