3 hours ago
1 In his exclusive column for CaughtOffside, former Aston Villa attacker Stan Collymore discusses some of football’s biggest talking points, including what Ruben Amorim can expect at Man United, is Pep Guardiola ready to lead Man City for a few more years, why Thomas Tuchel has food for thought for England and why Mikel Arteta just isn’t very good.
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Is Guardiola ready and able to lead City for another few years?
Can Pep Guardiola continue to lead Man City? Bryn Lennon/Getty ImagesI think that Manchester City are just going through what is a cyclical process of all teams that are routine winners.
If you look at the bar that they set over the Pep Guardiola years so far, it’s been so high that it’s virtually impossible. We are talking about eight years of continued success whether it be Champions League, Premier Leagues, FA Cups, League Cups… they’ve won the lot.
To be able to do that, firstly, you need to completely overhaul the club every few years, which they’ve done successfully. From Aguero to Haaland as an example.
You look at the players that Pep inherited and the players that he has now, and there’s been a huge difference. He’s also massively improved players and they’re all playing at eight or nine out of 10. Not only that, Pep has also raised their awareness of the sport that they play, which I think will be good for coaching down the line with a number of players.
I do think though this is potentially the end of a cycle, and I think that the decision that needs to be made by the board is for them to go for another coach who will implement a new 6/7/8 year cycle.
Look, Pep could stay there for 20 years if he wants to, but he’s got to answer the questions himself. If it becomes about money, how much money does he need, because the club would pay him £20m a year no problem. They’ve got the best man in the in the world.
The other thing of course is that time waits for no man, and as you’ve got younger, fresher coaches coming through it will be very interesting to see how the likes of Amorim, for example, compare to him tactically and technically.
Is Pep a bit sick and tired of asking the same questions of his players week in and week out? Does that feeling transmit to players? Is he as fresh on the training ground as he once was? Is he as manic as he was?
Players that have won everything look around and go ‘do I want to push myself through that barrier again?’
I think it’s just the natural ending of a cycle and the only two main questions I’ve got is whether Pep has the hunger to be able to handle another 6/7/8 year cycle or could it be somebody else? And secondly, if the latter scenario is the case, at the end of this season could we see one of the more revolutionary Manchester City transfer windows, with the cull of up to eight first-team players?
Fergie’s United, the great Milan teams, the great Real Madrid teams, the great Barcelona teams… the cycle always ends. The question is whether Man City’s is about to or if Pep is committed, brave and resourceful enough to push himself through another few years.
Kane was right to moan about England players; now Tuchel has food for thought
Thomas Tuchel has food for thought for England. Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty ImagesI can understand Harry Kane’s view on players that are starting to dip out of England games, even if the context of this is that it’s the third or fourth international break in a year in a competition that is meh at best and whereby a lot of club managers and coaches will tell their players ‘be very careful, don’t put yourself on the line, we’ve got big games to come.’
Ryan Giggs used to do something similar for almost every Wales friendly, and it’s effectively managers saying that at this stage in the Nations League, it’s not important enough to be putting our players on the line – and I agree with them.
However, it’s very corrosive if you start having so many players missing. Once they start to dip out of Nations League games without any punishment but then walk back into the squad for a World Cup qualifier, for example, then it becomes about players getting special treatment.
I think that Harry Kane will actually have been briefed to let it be known how important it is to turn up for England on a regular basis, because I don’t think he’s a particularly contentious individual.
And surprise, surprise, when you don’t have the best players available, when players have just got to put the kit on, go out and do a job without all the big build up, lo and behold; Madueke, excellent. Ollie Watkins, a goal. Curtis Jones, excellent finish. Players like Morgan Gibbs White coming on.
Utilising a full squad of 23 poses questions such as is Harry Kane gonna start? Is Ollie Watkins going to start? Where’s Declan Rice? Where’s Bukayo Saka?
When you strip all that back, the manager can pick players who can look them in the eye and say that yes, EVERY Three Lions game is important to me.
Make no bones about it, just because Greece are low down in the rankings and we’re fourth, they turned us over at Wembley and we owed them one.
Without all the bells and whistles and the superstars that were going to turn up and give them a hiding I think a lot of England fans would have thought that we might just about nick a win and it might be boring.
The result on Thursday is proof that Thomas Tuchel must come in and almost be blind about the names. Get his scouts out there, pick on form, pick players for his system. If that means no Harry Kane, if that means no Jude Bellingham, if that means no Bukayo Saka, so be it.
The balance and blend was there in Greece in a way that it hasn’t been in the preceding games so it’s very much food for thought for Tuchel.
It’s very clear what Ruben Amorim should expect at Man United
Ruben Amorim will have clear expectations at Man United. Photo by Gualter Fatia/Getty ImagesSo… Ruben Amarim has finally arrived in Manchester and quickly sent Ruud van Nistelrooy packing. That shouldn’t surprise anyone and I don’t think that the Dutchman needed to be pushed by the new man in order to get him out.
He will have expected it, and with his coaching staff going too, van Nistelrooy may find opportunities open up for him elsewhere. There are rumours of him going to West Ham so that’s one to watch.
In terms of Amorim coming in, I think that every good manager that I’ve played under, and every good manager that I’ve seen on day one says everybody’s got a clean slate.
Players that have been injured, players that were out in the wilderness, players that have been forced to train with the U21s, U23s or the kids get an arm around them. He’ll also want absolute honesty so that he can say to players like Luke Shaw, for example, ‘can you get to a level where you play 30 plus games a season?’
If the honest answer is no, then I think he’s got to get rid of those players because I think that if you look at winning teams, they have a lot of players that play a lot of games.
I know that in the last couple of seasons Kevin De Bruyne has had his injury problems, but that was after the bulk of being involved in all of Man City’s major triumphs.
Man United need all of their players to buy into what Amorim wants to do, and that will be fresh, lively and intense training sessions, which will be taken through into games. It will be hanging on his every word. It might be picking out three or four trusted senior players in the dressing room to cover all his bases but everybody has to play their part.
It’s very simple. If a player’s level isn’t right, they have to understand that they’re going to be on the bench or not even in a match day squad under Amorim. I think that kind of clear communication has obviously been lacking across the board at Manchester United but now is the perfect time for that to change.
Arteta just isn’t very good and is full of waffle
Mikel Arteta isn’t very good says Stan Collymore. Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty ImagesI immediately thought Mikel Arteta was full of bs, waffle and modern coaching tricks when he was handed the manager’s job at Arsenal.
The reality of the Arsenal fanbase too is, perhaps more than any other club, that they’ve a divine right to win the lot every season. To illustrate the point, I retweeted and commented on an Arsenal Fan TV tweet when one of the guys said “I think we could go invincible this season.”
It’s only a few games in and there’s nothing that’s changed in years. Pitches are beautiful. Sun is shining. Arsenal are incredible. Three nil, four nil, five nil, brilliant but all the ‘this is the year’ talk is more than a little grating.
Don’t forget that in each of those years they’ve significantly invested. This is Mikel Arteta’s team now, and these are Mikel Arteta’s players. He has broken the bank for the likes of Declan Dice who, dare I say, has been below par so far this season.
Players that came in that were supposed to be winners from a winning club Manchester City – Zinchenko and Jesus – are nothing more than bit part players.
How many players has Arteta actually brought in that were seen to be title-winning level players, and how many of them has he made significantly better? Ben White? Kai Havertz? Thomas Partey? Declan Rice?

 
What about Martin Odegaard? He was the guy at age 15 at Real Madrid that was meant to go on and be a world beater anyway, so surely he would have got to this point of maturity whereby he has an impact on somebody’s first team.
The classic question is how many players in the Arsenal squad has Mikel Arteta turned from average to good, good to very good, very good to great? And if you compare that with Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola, Unai Emery and others, he doesn’t come across very well at all.
Forget results, because results come as a consequence of you making those players better.
It’s not about whether he’s a nice guy, it’s not whether he’s fresh and young or he’s from the Pep Guardiola Barcelona school of coaching… How many players has Arteta actually made significantly better and, Arsenal fans, I want you to answer that honestly.
