Collymore’s column: Man United can exploit one major Newcastle weakness, Mason Mount’s future and Mikel Arteta’s touchline antics

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In his exclusive column for CaughtOffside, former Liverpool attacker Stan Collymore discusses some of football’s biggest talking points, including Marcel Sabitzer’s Man United future, Mikel Arteta’s recent touchline antics and which club would be perfect for Mason Mount if he leaves Chelsea, plus much more…

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Man United may have found Newcastle’s weakness…

It’s really simple for me, in elite-level football, there should be enough quality right-footed players and enough quality left-footed players to be able to take set pieces on their natural side.

Newcastle United’s Kieran Trippier is a great set-piece taker, we all know that, but for him to be taking free kicks, especially deep ones, on the left flank makes little sense to me.

With an EFL Cup final coming up, I wonder if Man United have picked up on that and highlighted it as an area of potential weakness because if Trippier finds himself out on the left taking a free kick and United pinch it back quickly, they’ve got someone in Marcus Rashford who they could look to play in quickly and it could be devastating for Newcastle.

From a technical perspective, in my opinion, if you can’t find a left-sided player to take a left-sided free kick and vice versa, you’re doing football wrong. And that’s not just a criticism of the coaches, it’s also a criticism of the players because in training if a player is being asked to jog 30 yards to take a free kick on the opposite side of the pitch they play on, surely he should be asking the question and saying ‘Gaffer, is there not someone else?’ – It’s a bit like strikers taking corners. We’ve seen it in the past with Harry Kane taking corners and I’ve never understood it.

Nick Pope can have no complaints…

Unfortunately for Nick Pope, the rules are the rules so I don’t want to see anyone saying he should receive any kind of special treatment and be allowed to play the EFL Cup final.

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He made a blatant error, there was no disputing that his handball well outside of his area against Liverpool on Saturday was a red card, so he has to serve the punishment the same as every other player has to. Look at Roy Keane and Paul Scholes in 1999 for example, they missed a Champions League final through suspension so unfortunately for Pope, he’s got to accept it for what it is and Eddie Howe now has to concentrate on getting the best out of Lloris Karius who will need to stand in for both Pope and Martin Dubravka with the latter cup-tied following his brief loan spell at United.

Marcel Sabitzer is doing well but Man United should remain patient…

I’ve said it before – I’m always suspicious of players leaving their parent club on loan. There’s always a reason why their club doesn’t want them and in Marcel Sabizter’s case, it’s probably because he doesn’t fit Julian Naglesmann’s system.

He’s played a handful of games for United and he’s improving. I thought he had a good game against Leicester City and that was echoed by the fact he made 11 ball recoveries, which was more than any other player on the pitch, but I still think United should wait before they even start thinking about a permanent deal.

Sabitzer will know that Bayern Munich are probably looking to sell him so doing well at United may be his last chance to impress at a top, top club. For that reason, I think United would prefer to see how he does for the remainder of the season before making any knee-jerk decisions on whether or not they want to keep him and that’s testimony to how much the club has changed recently because not too many seasons ago, we’d have probably seen them already trying to wrap a deal up. Now it’s a case of them being a lot more stable and having a long-term plan, so credit to Erik Ten Hag for implementing that change of philosophy so quickly.

Mikel Arteta’s touchline antics…

Everything has changed on the touchline nowadays. Managers can be fashion icons and wear ripped jeans and tight-fitted cardigans but I’m old school – back in my day, managers either wore a tracksuit or a club suit – you barely see that in today’s football.

Managers are in a position where they’re identifiable to the referee and to other officials and if you look like you’ve just come out of the Walkabout pub on Broad Street in Birmingham, it blurs the lines a little bit – but enough about that. I want to talk more specifically about Mikel Arteta’s antics on the touchline against Aston Villa on the weekend which saw him mock referee Simon Hooper.

What Arteta is doing, and he isn’t the only one by the way – Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Jose Mourinho have all done it too – is to influence the referee by intimidating them.

I understand why they do it, I get that they want to give their team a competitive edge but I don’t like it. We’re struggling to get enough top-quality officials into the game as it is and it’s no wonder why when they see a Premier League manager openly and unnecessarily mocking a referee in the middle of a game like we saw Arteta doing to Hooper on Saturday.

It’s about time PGMOL and the other regulatory bodies got together and demanded that their officials are shown a certain level of respect because the next generation of referees will probably be looking at the kind of incidents on the weekend involving Arteta and be thinking ‘we’re allowed to be mocked and we can’t say anything back, what’s the point?’ – It’s about time benches stopped the intimidation tactics, whether that be by getting in the fourth official’s face for 90 minutes, or by taking the mickey out of the on-field referee.

Graham Potter is under huge pressure at Chelsea…

There’s no denying it – Graham Potter is under pressure.

He will know that no matter how Todd Boehly dresses it up, losing at home to Southampton is not acceptable. It’s now getting to the stage where Boehly will be asking himself whether or not to give into the fan’s demands to bring in someone new or not. He’ll be in conflict with himself because I think he probably recognises that the days of hiring and firing are over and it’s not a sustainable model like it may have been in the past.

Boehly definitely wants to build a long-term project but admittedly, it may not be Potter that leads that project. I really want him to work it out there, but he’s at a disadvantage by not being the same kind of character as Klopp and Guardiola, who can always talk themselves out of a hole whenever they come under fire. Potter isn’t quite the same character and that probably isn’t going in his favour at the moment.

One thing I will say though is Chelsea’s horrendous form is definitely a symptom of a club in major transition. It’s obviously going to take time but the question is how much time, and with a tricky run of games coming up against Tottenham and Leeds before a huge Champions League knockout second leg against Dortmund, they must improve and quickly.

Mason Mount probably won’t leave Chelsea but if he does…

Recent reports claim that Chelsea have halted contract talks with Mason Mount.

Personally, I would be very surprised if he left. He’s one of their own and has the potential to finish his career as a bit of a legend like John Terry and Frank Lampard, but, obviously, with 18 months left on his deal and no agreement to renew it yet, it is possible that he leaves in the summer.

I’ve already said I don’t think he will, but if the lad is seriously considering his future, a switch to Newcastle would be absolutely perfect for him. I wonder if Howe and the Magpies’ hierarchy feels the same way.

Mount is not only the type of energetic player who would fit the Geordies’ system brilliantly, but he’s also an English Champions League winner who hasn’t yet his prime so he’d be a huge signing and would send a major signal of intent.

More Stories Graham Potter Marcel Sabitzer Mason Mount Mikel Arteta Nick Pope Stan Collymore

1 Comment

  1. Great observations and insight as always. Arteta seems to be “it” now with pundits and analysts alike, wasn’t so with Jurgen Klopp and Pep, with the latter being super “aggressive” on the touch line and with his antics, but hey …… he was liked, a winner and not a Johnny-come-lately.

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