Frank Lampard has transformed atmosphere at Stamford Bridge and Arsenal’s former captain would do same at EmiratesWhen I left Chelsea to join Juventus last year Antonio Conte was a couple of weeks away from the sack. I had arrived for my second spell at Chelsea in 2012 just a few weeks after Roberto Di Matteo had lost the job. The men’s team won two league titles in the six years I was there but there was also a lot of disappointment and a lot of managers who struggled to really connect with the fans, a problem that continued under Maurizio Sarri last season. On Wednesday, a few days after my return from Turin, I went back to Stamford Bridge working...
Chelsea toothless without Tammy Abraham, Everton better than results suggest and clever Jonjo Shelvey helps LiverpoolAfter a medley of mid-table finishes, could this be the season Crystal Palace return to the top half? They finished 10th four years ago under Alan Pardew and after victory at Burnley are part of a chasing pack on the tails of fifth-placed Tottenham. The win stopped a worrying rot of five games without victory and, with Wilfried Zaha having come to the fore in recent outings, there is plenty for a painfully inconsistent Palace to build on. December looks kind, too, with Bournemouth the visitors to Selhurst Park on Tuesday before matches against Watford, Brighton, Newcastle, West Ham and Southampton. After a quiet start...
Interim manager has unenviable task with players so hesitant in contact they defend like every part of their body is their facePerhaps it was unfair to accuse Unai Emery of having no vision for Arsenal. On the contrary, he had dozens of them. Three at the back, four at the back. Two up front, one up front. A diamond midfield, three in midfield, nobody in midfield (or Granit Xhaka, which very often amounted to the same thing). Pressing, not pressing. A high defensive line. A low block. And, of course, their signature tactic: gormlessly gawping while a spirited opposition team cut straight through them, before standing with hands on hips, deciding who to blame.There is a particular pathos to Arsenal...
As so often when big clubs go bad, the manager carries the can for errors in recruitment and in the boardroomA nd so the grumbling of the Emirates has claimed another victim. By the end, Unai Emery cut a hapless figure, mumbling incoherently after defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt as the world collapsed around him. He was a scapegoat, as managers always are, barely less a patsy in his role as Arsène Wenger’s successor than he had been as Neymar’s minder at Paris Saint-Germain. He certainly should not be immune from criticism, but equally nobody should think his replacement will bring about improvement merely by not being Emery.Emery joined as a Europa League manager for a Europa League club; he will...
Arsenal’s fans anticipated this as soon as Arsène Wenger left with fears of a repeat of the Manchester United experienceThe thing is, we’re not used to this. A change of manager might be routine for supporters of other clubs but that’s not how it is for Arsenal fans. When it comes to changes at the top we’re the football equivalent of Belarus, whose citizens last greeted a new president in 1994. Remember this is only our second switch since 1996, back in the days when no one had a mobile phone and the Spice Girls were young. Related: From unleashing Pépé to dealing with Xhaka: six things Ljungberg must do | Nick Ames Continue reading...