In his exclusive column for CaughtOffside, former Liverpool attacker Stan Collymore discusses some of football’s biggest talking points, including VAR’s controversial decision to send Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin off, Jadon Sancho’s proposed loan back to Borussia Dortmund, rumours Aston Villa could offer Leon Bailey a new contract, plus much more.
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I am so fed up with VAR!
We, as pundits and fans, seem to talk more about the decisions than the actual game nowadays. Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s red card on Thursday night in the FA Cup was one of the worst decisions I have ever seen, but the problem with that is, that seeing those kind of mind-boggling decisions is not even surprising any more. They happen week in and week out, which is incredibly frustrating when the technology was originally bought in to eradicate these errors. It feels like we see more cock-ups now than ever before!
Do not get me wrong, I absolutely do not want to see players getting hurt and injured because of poor challenges but tackling is a part of the game — a very big part of the game, may I add, so what are we going to do? — Are we going to outlaw it, because if not, we need to accept it for what it is, and not punish those who actually execute a perfectly good challenge.
Jadon Sancho is facing a career-defining six months…
Although Jadon Sancho’s proposed loan move back to Borussia Dortmund has yet to be finalised and announced, it looks to be only a matter of time before he returns to Germany, and I think that’s the best thing for him at this moment in time.
He’s got to put Manchester United at the back of his mind and focus on the second half of the season. There is almost no chance he ever return to fight for his place at Old Trafford, so his only motivation from now until the end of the season should be on playing his absolute best and getting his reputation back to where it was before he signed for United in the hope of attracting as much interest as possible in the summer.
If he prioritises financial gain over anything else, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he agreed to join a club in Saudi Arabia’s Pro League, but if he is determined to make it at the highest level, he may have to sacrifice some earnings and accept a move to a club whose stature isn’t what Manchester United’s is.
Nevertheless, I repeat what I said at the beginning — this potential move back to Dortmund is probably the best outcome the player could hope for. He just has to play as many minutes as possible and he needs to rediscover his love for the game again.
Leon Bailey signing a new contract would be great news for Aston Villa…
I am pleased to see reports that Aston Villa are preparing to offer Leon Bailey a new contract — I really like him.
He came from Bayer Leverkusen for £40 million so he was a relatively cheap transfer, and although he didn’t set the world alight straight away. He started a bit slowly when he arrived, but he now looks to have found his feet and seems to be working well under Unai Emery; perhaps that is a testament to how good of a coach the Villa boss is, but also to how professional and willing to learn the player is.
I have seen a lot of him in action, in person and honestly, he’s become an exciting addition to Villa’s team — he loves to cut in from the right-hand side, he’s creative and now he’s weighing in with goals himself — it’s all going well for him so absolutely I hope he can reach an agreement and agree to continue in the Midlands.
Roberto Firmino back to the Premier League?
There have been some rumours recently that several Premier League clubs are interested in bringing Roberto Firmino back to the Premier League. It’s been claimed Nottingham Forest, Sheffield United and Fulham are all interested. I really don’t like the idea of Firmino at either of the former two, but I think Fulham and a possible strike partnership with Raul Jimenez could be a really interesting set-up.
On their day, Fulham are a good team and I think if they have the chance to sign him, they should because he’d make them even better.
As for Forest and Sheffield United, although Forest’s owner loves a big name and they’re a more progressive and attractive team, I don’t think either would be the right club for him. He’s 32-year-old now — he doesn’t need to be involved in relegation scraps — he isn’t that type of player, so for me, it’s really simple — if he has the choice of the three, he should consider Fulham, especially because he would also have the chance to work with Portuguese speaking manager Marco Silva.