In his exclusive column for CaughtOffside, former Aston Villa and Liverpool striker Stan Collymore discusses some of football’s biggest talking points, including how Liverpool can fix their current problems, whether Trent Alexander-Arnold should get his chance for England and why so many players are pulling out of the World Cup.
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Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal – the race for the top four.
Todd Boehly’s plan with Graham Potter.
It’s early November and a really good, classic Super Sunday coming up this weekend. Chelsea against Arsenal and Tottenham against Liverpool. Doffing my cap to Villa vs Manchester United, Unai Emery’s first game for Aston Villa. Southampton against Newcastle, Ralph Hassenhutl under pressure against free-scoring, Eddie Howe’s Magpies. West Ham against Crystal Palace, that could dictate how both of those two clubs season’s could go as we go into the World Cup break.
A really important matchday, and if you’re looking at Chelsea against Arsenal, I went to see Graham Potter at Chelsea’s training ground last week. I had a great chat with him about what he wants to do, what he’s trying to do. It’s a massive job, we know it’s a massive job at Chelsea Football Club. It’s been mostly good. Won the majority of their games so far. A bloody nose against Brighton, but I think what we’ll see from Potter, because what we’ve seen from his time at Brighton, he got Leandro Trossard playing extremely well, Dan Burn got a move to Newcastle, I think we will see much less of the stellar signings like Raheem Sterling.
I see Chelsea as a bit of a Christmas tree. At the base, an excellent youth academy, then players they buy at a young age to try and develop and loan out. You think in years gone by, Mohamed Salah, Kevin De Bruyne, and Romelu Lukaku. Todd Boehly’s got a lot of money, let’s not make any bones about this. He might not have Roman Abramovich money, but he’s got significant amounts of money.
Two of Chelsea’s biggest names of the Premier League era are John Terry and Frank Lampard. Terry a Chelsea fan, Jody Morris also who worked as a coach with Lampard, so what I think we’ll start to see is less of the big name signings and look to develop more players. Chelsea fans need to be patient at the moment. There will be bumps in the road but they have to give Potter the time that Arsenal have given Mikel Arteta and I think Chelsea will then thrive.
Do Arsenal have enough to compete for the title?
As for Arsenal, I just feel they’ve got a very good style of play, but I just think that even though Granit Xhaka is playing well, I don’t see a physically strong enough side. If they had a little more physicality, I could see them more as title challengers. Let’s see how what happens after the World Cup. The European competitions come back, FA Cup, players will have got injured during the World Cup. The last ten games are huge. When you’re in a title race it can play on your mind. The ones that deal with it best will win. That’s why I think Manchester City will breeze the league.
That’s not to say Arteta hasn’t done an excellent job. I do think they need another striker next summer who is going to get you 30 goals a season. An experienced midfielder, maybe a Thiago type, and still another central defender. If you look at their side, they have some excellent players, but how many would Manchester City take for their team? I just worry a little about their back four. If they start to unravel, I want to see how they react.
Patience with Antonio Conte
I think Antonio Conte has come under a lot of stick and a lot of it unfairly. He’s having to follow a path at Tottenham where they’ve had wildly different managers with wildly different styles. Pochettino came in and they’d spent all the Gareth Bale money and got little value out of it. Tottenham thought Pochettino is doing well with Southampton bringing in young players so they brought him in and he did well with what they had. A lot of Spurs fans are desperate for him to come back. Then you go from his pressing and youth to Jose Mourinho, not a manager who plays a style to entertain people. That’s the Tottenham way if you go back through the years.
Spurs fans were excited in pre-season seeing how Conte worked the players. They worked tremendously hard – a proper old-school pre-season. Professionalism, desire, and passion for the shirt. But, he’s also a pragmatist. If he wins 1-0, he wins 1-0. When that philosophy loses a game or two, you’re in a position where fans in the stadium are looking for Pochettino again. They’re not like a Manchester City or Arsenal playing free-flowing football, but I think you’ve got to go with it Spurs fans. You’ve got a winner and you need to be patient. I think he could go out and speak to Tottenham supporters groups. Let the fans know his plan, it’s important.
How to fix Liverpool’s problems
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Liverpool is Klopp’s penultimate job, and if he leaves Liverpool I can see him going to Real Madrid or Bayern Munich. I can’t see him going to PSG to try and win the Champions League. I think he likes football clubs that have a soul. For me, there are three things that Liverpool need to do.
Firstly, address the players getting older. Virgil van Dijk, Jordan Henderson, Thiago, Roberto Firmino, even Mohamed Salah. Where Manchester City had Vincent Kompany, Sergio Aguero, Fernandinho, they moved them on swiftly when they knew they couldn’t hit the heights they used to. They had a plan with players coming through ready to replace them and perform immediately.
Secondly, you remember Pep Guardiola holding Phil Foden back. Drip feeding him in, brought him in at the right time and bingo. You can’t do that at Liverpool at the moment due to injuries. Harvey Elliot has come in, probably before his time. He had an injury last season that held him back and now he’s in the team. You see two youngsters in Foden and Elliot of similar abilities. Of course, Foden is miles ahead, but that’s the difference in the youth you’ve got and the timing. Whose coming through? Fabio Carvalho is not ready, Luis Diaz is injured.
Then, there’s the elephant in the room for Liverpool Football Club, the owners. I think there’s an easy solution and that’s FSG either sell a minority stake in the club to an external buyer or selling the club to a buyer with the kind of resources that Newcastle and Manchester City have. Liverpool have a large fan base in Scandinavia and Norway in particular that fly to games. I think if Liverpool and FSG were clever, instead of saying they’re going to sell to the Saudi’s for example, go around to countries who have sovereign wealth fund but also have ethical ways of dealing with their politics, which Norway certainly does, and ask if they want to buy Liverpool. Liverpool then get the funding they need moving forward and that’s the way I think football clubs can match the clubs with Middle Eastern influence.
Gareth Southgate and his England selection
I know Gareth Southgate really well. We were youngsters together at Crystal Palace. We chatted the morning of the Euros final so I feel I know the man and the character. He’s not the yes-man people think he is. He has revolutionised the way the England National team approaches it’s football, treats its players and communicates via the media. That’s really important. Looking at players, he does have loyalties. Some say that’s his Achilles heel. Fans have claimed Harry Maguire should be dropped, but we don’t have a load of central defenders. I think Trent Alexander-Arnold should have got more game time for England. He’s a special footballer. The suggestion that teams would go into games and target Alexander-Arnold is absurd. He’s one of the best in the world in his position.
Southgate likes stability, he rewards consistency and players that have done well for him. Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker, for example. Mason Mount – although I think he could make way for maybe Phil Foden. I would play Alexander-Arnold first game, I think it would be exciting. His ability to switch play and I don’t see the poor defensive ability that others see. He gives you so much more moving forward. He can put a cross in just inside the opposition half that Walker and Trippier can’t do. I’d throw Trent in. Everyone will think Trippier will start and I’d start Trent. We have lots of injuries but nearly every squad in the tournament is the same. I think it’s going to be a case of which nation limps over the line this tournament rather than which nation is the best in the world.
Why are so many players getting injured ahead of the World Cup?
I remember myself, players being wary back in the day of getting injured before international duty. I remember a game between Manchester United and Liverpool. The game was almost played at a testimonial pace because players were worried about getting injured. The World Cup is the biggest tournament in the world. It will be very interesting to do a comparison between how many players from each league have got injured, and I believe the Premier League will be quite high. It’s a difficult one. If players go in half-cooked they can pull a hamstring and the same if they go into a game and over compensate if you are trying to make an impression.
The reality is, if you go into a game, there’s no right or wrong way to approach a game except from having the right mentality, physically switched on and giving your very best. If you’re Cristiano Ronaldo for example in the final game before the World Cup – it will be intense in front of thousands of fans. You won’t be worried about the ball coming to you and getting injured, you’ll be thinking the World Cup is coming and people are watching me so I’ll go even harder. I don’t envy any of them.
I hope this is the first and last time the World Cup is in November. The Premier League is the worlds toughest league and you’re going to have no preparation for the tournament with your country going into a World Cup which is a disgrace due to the temperature, the cultural aspect etc. It will be interesting to see during the last fixtures before the World Cup, with Gareth Southgate watching, how the players will perform. With the injuries, I think the players are maybe trying too hard. One or two players might be thinking I could have a little tactical hamstring injury and have a break for the World Cup and save myself for the next tournament in a proper football country like Germany, and concentrate on my longevity for my club career.
The right opinion said about exactly what liverpool and FSG should do.