With Premier League sides horse-trading their best young talent, there is no chance of another Class of 92 todayHow to establish a football dynasty? For decades, the orthodox, long-range formula was to establish excellence within the youth team, recruit complementary talent, and facilitate those with club values within their veins to set standards, to help run the dressing room for a manager.European football’s greatest teams have almost always laid their foundations on youth systems – Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona, Arrigo Sacchi’s Milan bedrocked by Milanello-hewn defenders, Johan Cruyff and his fellow Ajax graduates, the Bayern Munich team led by Franz Beckenbauer – all followed the template. Continue reading...
Clubs are judged when players are accused of a crime but it is also true that football fails in its duty of care to young menAnother day, another note of horror. Another reminder that football has unconquered issues with how it cares for and guides its young men. And for Manchester United, another note of disaster when it comes to employee management, public relations and general preparedness for the vicissitudes of modern life.Not least when those vicissitudes have been flagged up since early June, when the first public complaint of domestic abuse was made against Antony, marquee signing of the club’s latest new era. Continue reading...
Victory at the Emirates will have given Mikel Arteta satisfaction as games like this slipped away from Arsenal late last seasonPerhaps the best part of Declan Rice’s day, his first big Emirates Stadium afternoon, was the fact that for the opening 95 minutes of this tight, taught, occasionally turgid game, Arsenal didn’t play that well.Rice didn’t play that well, not really, by his best, most regal, long-striding – sportswriters do love a stride – midfield standards. Instead he was tethered for long periods, ratting in the deep spaces, fighting to cover a position-and-a-half in midfield, where Kai Havertz was again a spectral entity, only partially present in the material world. Continue reading...
Kai Havertz at Arsenal and Mason Mount at Manchester United are yet to fit in – but this is not a simple issue of personnelAfew years ago, the future seemed a world in which football teams would comprise 11 midfielders. Then it became 11 full-backs, at which it became apparent that nobody quite knew the difference any more. Then Pep Guardiola found his inner Tony Pulis and started fielding four centre-backs and it turned out that, while the present may be very much possession-driven, the future may not. The composition of the midfield is suddenly up for debate again.The most common setup among the Premier League’s elite remains 4-3-3 – even the 4-2-3-1 with which Manchester City have started the...
There are crunch showdowns at the Emirates and at Bramall Lane while Manchester City already look imperiousWinning the Conference League did not do much to lift the pressure on David Moyes after an underwhelming domestic season, but the clouds look to be lifting. New signings have joined to bolster the ranks and only two points have been dropped in three matches, to put the Hammers second behind Manchester City. Things could hardly be going better. One problem Moyes will soon face is European football, an activity that hindered West Ham’s league form last season. To limit its impact, picking up points in winnable matches – such as Friday’s trip to Kenilworth Road – will be crucial. At this stage last...