It may be opening weekend optimism, but the Colombian lifted Carlo Ancelotti’s side to a level that outplayed TottenhamFirst weekends are all about hope. Fresh grass and fresh dreams. The new tactics that oppositions haven’t yet worked out, and the new players who haven’t yet been paid for. It’s a weekend for flinging perspective to one side and letting your imagination run riot, a weekend of kings and frauds and nothing in between. Mohamed Salah is back. Fulham are doomed. West Ham are in crisis. VAR is good now. And this is our year, as assuredly as all the others were before them.Naturally, all this feeds giddily into football’s rapacious content-industrial complex, where things are always being learned, where definitive...
Harry Kane’s hapless efforts in the Tottenham documentary highlight the need for something more than a lot of shoutingWhat exactly do elite sports people need five minutes before kick-off? Tactical insight? Life-affirming motivation? Or just a bit of swearing? One of the highlights of the All or Nothing Tottenham documentary – aside from Danny Rose’s “any news from Milan?” – is getting to see those vital final words delivered to the troops before walking out for battle.One of the first times we see it Harry Kane takes the lead before a must-win Champions League game against Olympiakos. The huddle goes on for ever – a purple Lycra ring of Saturn. Starting XI, substitutes, coaches, injured players, physios, kit men, perhaps...
It feels as if José Mourinho’s tenure is truly about to begin and to be considered a success he needs to win a trophyGuardian writers’ predicted position: 6th (NB: this is not necessarily David Hytner’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)Last season’s position: 6th Related: Men's transfer window summer 2020 – all deals from Europe's top five leagues It used to be, as per Chas & Dave, lucky for Spurs when the year ended in one. Eight of their 14 major domestic gongs – including two old First Divisions and eight FA Cups – have come in such circumstances and the accolades have been neatly distributed since their first cup success in 1901. From Bill Nicholson to Terry...
Key questions about both sides’ forwards went unanswered in a game where Spurs and Arsenal showed their flawsAfter all the optimistic talk, the north London derby was a sobering reminder for Arsenal of just how much still needs to be done, just how pervasive the issues Mikel Arteta has inherited are. And while the victory lifted Tottenham above Arsenal in the table, and for all this in some respects resembled a classic José Mourinho mugging, it was a result that did little to clear the doubts about the manager and his approach. Spurs won because their defence was less chaotic than Arsenal’s but the picture, really, was of two attacks seeking an identity. Related: Toby Alderweireld punishes Arsenal errors to...
It’s hard not to feel we’ve have seen this all before and know how it plays out. The sense is the endgame has begunAs they prepare for the north London derby on Sunday, who would you rather be: Arsenal or Tottenham? For the past four years, it wasn’t a question that required much consideration. Even in 2015-16, when Arsenal last finished above Spurs, it felt freakish. The trajectories of the two clubs seemed clear: Spurs were rising, replete with gifted young players and blessed with a charismatic manager whose ideas were notably modern, while Arsenal were sinking in the dotage of a managerial great whose best years were behind him but whose departure would inevitably bring turbulence.Arsène Wenger’s retirement in...