PAGES 4-5 PAGE 12

thegame United will reap Henry Winter

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 13 2021

the benefit as meets AC Milan

Ronaldo revels in and Italy legend
his new role Franco Baresi
All the action from the weekend

Harvey Elliott
goes down
after Struijk’s
challenge and
makes his pain
clear, inset

Elliott’s ankle agony

Liverpool starlet suffers horrifying injury during 3-0 win at Elland Road — but
Leeds owner claims his player Pascal Struijk should not have been sent off
MATT WEST/REX

PAGES 2-3
2 1GG Monday September 13 2021 | the times

WEEKEND
AT A
GLANCE
GOALS Injury horror takes
19
V 7 from last round
(1 match to play)
Leeds Liverpool
HOW THEY STAND

Man Utd
P
4
W
3
D
1
L
0
F
11
A Pts
3 10
Chelsea 4 3 1 0 9 1 10
Liverpool 4 3 1 0 9 1 10

03
Gunners firing at last Man City 4 3 0 1 11 1 9
Arsenal finally registered their Brighton 4 3 0 1 5 3 9
first win of the Premier League Tottenham 4 3 0 1 3 3 9
season with their first goal, Salah 20, West Ham 4 2 2 0 10 5 8
Fabinho 50, Everton 3 2 1 0 7 3 7
courtesy of Pierre-Emerick Mané 90+2 Leicester 4 2 0 2 4 6 6
Aubameyang. Arsenal mustered
Brentford 4 1 2 1 3 2 5
30 shots against Norwich City, POSSESSION
Crystal Palace 4 1 2 1 5 5 5
their most in a league game
Aston Villa 4 1 1 2 5 7 4
since attempting 33 against 44% 56% Wolves 4 1 0 3 2 3 3
Manchester United in
SHOTS ON TARGET Southampton 4 0 3 1 4 6 3
December 2017. Watford 4 1 0 3 3 7 3
Arsenal 4 1 0 3 1 9 3
4 9 Leeds 4 0 2 2 4 11 2
CARDS FOULS Burnley 3 0 1 2 2 5 1
Newcastle 4 0 1 3 5 12 1

33 3
9 8 Norwich 4 0 0 4 1 11 0

V 11 from U 1 from
last round last round
Cornering the market
Several Premier League clubs
have employed set-piece
coaches, with some feeling the
benefit more than others. Since
the start of last season,
Liverpool have scored more
league goals from corners than
any other side (13), while Leeds
United have conceded the most
in this fashion in that time (13).
POSSESSION
Highest possession
64.1% Manchester United
Lowest possession
35.9% Newcastle United
Lingard flies the flag
RATINGS
Leeds United (4-1-4-1) I Meslier 6 — L Ayling 5,
D Llorente 5 (P Struijk 33mins, 4) , L Cooper 5,
J Firpo 5 — K Phillips 6 — Raphinha 6, S Dallas 5,
Rodrigo 5 (P Roberts 45, 5), J Harrison 5
(D James 68, 5) — P Bamford 5.
Booked Llorente, Cooper. Sent off Struijk.
Liverpool (4-3-3) Alisson 7 — T Alexander-Arnold
8, J Matip 7, V Van Dijk 7, A Robertson 7 —
H Elliott 7 (J Henderson 63, 7), Fabinho 7,
T Alcântara 7 (N Keita 90+3) — M Salah 8, S Mané
7, D Jota 7 (A Oxlade-Chamberlain 82).
Booked Fabinho. Referee C Pawson. Att 36,507.
HENRY
WINTER
Chief Football writer
at Elland Road
Any injury is galling but when it
befalls a young player it seems even
crueller. Harvey Elliott, the Liverpool
midfield player, is only 18, only just
starting out on what looks a hugely
promising career given his talent,
composure and work ethic. That is
why so many people inside and
outside football sent Elliott supportive
messages after he was taken to
100 63
Shots from Years since the
Liverpool this last time Leeds
season, 16 more began a top-
than any other flight season by
team in their failing to win
first four any of their first
games. four games.
Players sped across to give Elliott
their support, including Leeds men
such as Kalvin Phillips. Some looked
away as they saw Elliott’s dislocated
ankle. The Liverpool substitute Curtis
Jones held his head in his hands,
shocked by what had befallen his
friend. Alisson, Liverpool’s goalkeeper,
knelt alongside Elliott, saying a few
words.
Craig Pawson meanwhile was
dismissing Struijk, prompting a
debate about the nature of the
challenge. Distinguished former
players such as Gary Neville argued
on Sky that Pawson gave the red card
for the severity of the injury rather
than the challenge. Yet the speed with
which Struijk went in, targeting the

1 2
hospital after a serious ankle injury ball but risking injury with the follow
suffered here at Elland Road. through, almost in a scissors motion, Salah beats
Encouragingly, Elliott was able to always endangered his opponent. Meslier from
This Goals scored reply quickly, posting a message of Pawson was ready to give red and was close range
weekend’s before first- thanks on Instagram and writing simply waiting for VAR to confirm it. to open the
nine Premier half stoppage about “the road to recovery”. Only Dion Dublin, who knows to his cost scoring as
League time, Lukaku when all the scans are done will the the game’s perils, described the Mané looks on
games 15th min, length of that road be ascertained challenge as “innocuous” on BBC Five
produced Salah 20th fully. The medics were certainly quick Live, although in mitigation he had Unfortunately, a minority of Leeds Rodrigo harried Andrew Robertson.
some to reconfigure the dislocated ankle on no recourse to replays. Sky, rightly, fans embarrassed themselves with a Jack Harrison dashed past Trent
memorable the pitch. One certainty is that Elliott refrain from re-showing such brief chant of “you’re going home in a Alexander-Arnold. Leeds were really
knows he will be in the best of hands in Liverpool’s faces. “Brilliant”, one

0
scoring
moments - medically and also enjoys the support
but only one of his manager, Jürgen Klopp, who
goal was Number of became very emotional when talking
scored by an headed goals about what had befallen a player he
Englishman. It (except for an believes in so much.
came from own ggoal) Clubs pour time, effort, resources
Manchester and love into young players,
United’s Jesse nurturing them and then, almost
Lingard parentally, hoping they seize the
opportunity. Elliott had done that,
looking at home in Liverpool’s
midfield with his constant endeavour
and link-ups with Mo Salah in
particular. Elliott was repaying
Klopp’s faith. And then this grim
moment just before the hour.
The moment Salah shouted to the
Liverpool bench, calling for urgent
medical assistance for poor Elliott,
whose left leg had crumpled under a
challenge from Pascal Struijk, the
severity of the teenager’s injury was
clear. When Elliott, clutching his left
ankle, tried to sit up, Salah urged him
to lie down as help was on its way.
Leeds’ medical staff rushed to join
their Liverpool counterparts in
tending to Elliott.
distressing incidents.
Everyone agreed that Struijk went
in without malice, yet it was the
intensity of the challenge that led to
the injury and it was the correct
decision to dismiss Struijk. Referees
have been letting smaller challenges
go this season, wanting to follow the
Euro 2020 example and allow the
game to flow, and there is a belief in
certain quarters that this leniency
may encourage players to go in more
forcefully.
Officials are simply doing their job
and responding to the desire amongst
players and managers, expressed to
them pre-season, for “lighter-touch”
refereeing. Klopp has already voiced
his concern about the game becoming
too physical again. Clearly, there is a
balance and players must also be
aware not to endanger an opponent
through excessive speed or force.
The majority of the Leeds fans
realised the scale of the injury and
broke into applause as Elliott was
carried past on the stretcher towards
the tunnel in the corner. He was able
to look up and clap them back.
Yorkshire ambulance”.
Elliott’s injury overshadowed a
confident victory by Liverpool. Salah
scored his 100th Premier League goal
(including two for Chelsea) in his
162nd game, becoming the fifth-
fastest player to reach that landmark
after Alan Shearer (100 in 124 games),
Harry Kane (141), Sergio Agüero (147)
and Thierry Henry (160). Fabinho
shone in midfield and scored the
second before Sadio Mané’s
persistence was rewarded with a late
third — his 99th Premier League
goal.
Leeds’s defence was constantly
exposed, were guilty of mistakes in
concentration and positioning, and
Liverpool could have won by more.
Yet Leeds started as if contesting a
sprint, racing at Liverpool’s players,
hounding them. Phillips closed down
Salah, who was booed for his tumble.
Phillips then switched the ball right to
Raphinha. The Brazilian drove into
the area, then touched the ball inside
to Rodrigo, who struck his shot
straight at Alisson.
Leeds were lively for a while.
fan kept shouting.
Yet Liverpool stayed calm in the
face of the storm, and imposed their
talents. Joël Matip was allowed to step
into midfield unchecked after
20 minutes, play the ball in to the feet
of Salah and collect the return. Matip
touched the ball wide for Alexander-
Arnold to confirm his crossing
abilities and Salah finished from close
range for the century.
Leeds’ defence was scrambled,
enough it was no great surprise that
Diego Llorente’s hamstring went.
Struijk came on, and then Tyler
Roberts replaced Rodrigo as the
teams turned around. The tide was
not to turn, though. Alexander-
Arnold lifted in a corner and Virgil
van Dijk’s header clipped Fabinho,
whose first attempt bounced back off
Patrick Bamford. Fabinho simply
transferred the ball into the net to
double Liverpool’s lead.
Leeds lacked a cutting edge.
Roberts had a header held, then shot
wide. Leeds lacked communication at
times. Luke Ayling went to flick the
the times | Monday September 13 2021 1GG 3

thegame

gloss off Salah milestone

Even in his agony
HUNDRED UP FOR SALAH Elliott, seen
Fewest appearances to reach 100 applauding the
Premier League goals Leeds fans, handed
A Shearer his shirt and boot
124 to a youngster in
H Kane the next bed on his
141 arrival in hospital.
S Agüero The father of the
147 boy, who had
T Henry suffered a broken
arm, posted his
160
thanks on social
M Salah media
162

have given a yellow card to

The expert view Shawcross. But I could see it was a
serious injury and that made it a red
JOHN POWELL/GETTY IMAGES

PETER card. I suspect Craig Pawson went

WALTON
Former Premier
League referee
Referees do take the seriousness of an
injury into account when deciding
how to penalise a challenge. In 2010, I
was referee when Stoke’s Ryan
Shawcross fouled Arsenal’s Aaron
Ramsey. Had Ramsey jumped up
from the challenge unhurt, I would
through a similar process yesterday,
although in his case he had the
assistance of VAR. Pascal Struijk’s
tackle on Harvey Elliott looked fairly
innocuous. Had Elliott emerged
unscathed, it might not even have
been a yellow card. But players have a
responsibility not to endanger the
safety of an opponent and intent does
not matter. So players like Struijk and
Shawcross have to be accountable for
the injuries they have caused by being
reckless in the way they approach
these challenges.

ball down the line for Raphinha, who

had stopped. “Talk to each other,” a
fan screamed.
Then came that horrendous
incident involving Elliott, after which
Jordan Henderson arrived in midfield.
Marcelo Bielsa, the Leeds manager,
gave Dan James his debut and the
newcomer looked quick and
lively.
Bamford almost scored after
pinching the ball off
Thiago Alcântara and
trying to chip Alisson
from 50 yards. The
goalkeeper backpedalled
and just managed to tip
Bamford’s effort over.
Liverpool made it 3-0
deep into the eight minutes
of stoppage time.
Henderson found Thiago
who picked out Mané.
Liverpool’s No 10 turned
and placed his shot firmly
past Illan Meslier. But by
then, all thoughts were with
Elliott.
Salah, right, celebrates
his 100th top-flight goal
with Alexander-Arnold
Elliott faces surgery but Leeds owner says it wasn’t a red
PAUL JOYCE
Harvey Elliott will undergo surgery
this week after suffering a fracture
dislocation of his left ankle in
Liverpool’s win at Elland
Road. The Leeds United
chairman, Andrea
R
Radrizzani, claimed the
injury was an accident and
Pascal Struijk’s challenge
should not have resulted
in a red card.
Elliott, 18, was last
night discharged from
Leeds General Infirmary
and allowed to go home to
his family, but he must have
an operation, possibly
tomorrow, and faces a
lengthy rehabilitation.
Elliott was injured when
Struijk, the Leeds
substitute, challenged the
youngster from behind
as he launched another
counterattack.
Liverpool’s medical staff, headed by
physio Chris Morgan and Jim Moxon,
the club doctor, were able to put the
joint back in place on the pitch before
Elliott was transferred to hospital. He
later posted a message on Instagram
from the back of the ambulance, with
his thumb up.
“It is one of the few Instagram posts
that I really love,” said Jürgen Klopp,
the Liverpool manager, who was
visibly upset by the incident. “It shows
he has not much pain anymore,
which is great news.
“The medical department could put
it in the right place again, which is
very important in that moment. That
it goes [back] quick. That is good.
“Apart from that there are not a lot
of good things to say because
obviously it is a bad injury. We have
to wait now, just for the first
assessments and scans.
“Do I want such a young boy
having this experience so early in his
career? No, but it is the case. We have
to be there and we will be there. We
will play football without him but we
will wait for him as well because
obviously he is top, top, top player.
“I saw the situation and then I
could see immediately the effect
because I could see his foot — not in
the right place. That is why we were
all shocked.”
As Elliott received medical
attention, referee Craig Pawson
brandished a red card to Struijk after
a review of the incident by VAR.
The decision to send off Struijk,
who had come on for the injured
Diego Llorente in the first half, was
criticised by Radrizzani when he was
interviewed on Sky Sports after the
match. He said the injury was “part of
football” and added the dismissal was
“hard to take”. “The accident was hard
for him [Elliott] and I wish the boy a
full recovery,” Radrizzani said.
“Hopefully, he can get back soon,
but this is part of football. If you
watch the video you see that Struijk
slides with the left foot on him and it
was accidental. It was not a
premeditated injury. The evaluation
from the referee was wrong. It is
really difficult to take a red card like
that. If you watch the video enough
times, you understand that it is an
accidental injury. Struijk gets the ball
and the left leg is lying on him.”
Marcelo Bielsa, the Leeds head
coach, said: “I am totally sure there
was no bad intention. These types of
recoveries of the ball are totally
frequent. The difference here was
Pascal’s speed and power hit the
opponent and that caused the injury.”
Mohamed Salah had been close to
Elliott, who at 18 years and 161 days
had become the youngest midfield
player to start three consecutive
games for Liverpool, when he was left
in agony and immediately called for
medical assistance. Morgan was able
to start treating Elliott after seven
seconds.
In his social media post, Elliott said:
“Thank you for the messages guys!
Road to recovery. YNWA.”
It was also reported yesterday that
Elliott had given a youngster in the
next hospital bed to him, who had
broken his arm, his No 67 shirt.
4 1GG Monday September 13 2021 | the times

thegame

Ronaldo Mk2 is While he’s been away...

It has been 12 years since Cristiano Ronaldo last
pulled on the red of Manchester United. This is

poacher United what has happened in the Premier League and

at Old Trafford since he left in 2009

Premier League (from 17/05/2009)

desperately need 1
2
3
4
5
Team
Man City
Man United
Chelsea
Liverpool
Tottenham
P
460
460
461
461
460
W
303
268
266
254
246
D
79
105
98
107
102
L
78
87
97
100
112
GF
1025
848
863
869
796
GA
414
449
465
489
509
GD
611
399
398
380
287
Pts
988
909
896
869
840
HOW HE HAS BECOME A PENALTY-AREA SPECIALIST
Manchester Utd
Ronaldo 45+2, 62, Fernandes 80, Lingard 90+2
4 Ronaldo goal map for Juventus Ronaldo’s percentage of shots from
6
7
Arsenal
Everton
460
460
246
182
101
136
113
142
844
644
526
573
318
71
839
682
8 West Ham 422 135 111 176 554 640 -86 516
Newcastle Utd
Manquillo 56
1 Serie A, 2020-21 inside the six-yard box
Season-by-season record since 11 9 Newcastle 384 122 90 172 453 587 -134 456
leaving Man Utd 10 10 Southampton 345 115 93 137 441 483 -42 438
RATINGS
Manchester United (4-2-3-1): D De Gea 7 — 11 Stoke City 343 104 100 139 361 474 -113 412
A Wan-Bissaka 6, R Varane 7, H Maguire 6, 8 8 12 Leicester 269 113 60 96 408 358 50 399
L Shaw 7 — N Matic 6, P Pogba 7 —
M Greenwood 7 (D Van de Beek 85min), 7 13 Aston Villa 346 96 93 157 383 531 -148 381
B Fernandes 8 (A Martial 85), J Sancho 7
6 6 6
5 5 14 West Brom 344 90 99 155 378 523 -145 369
(J Lingard 66, 7) — C Ronaldo 9.
Booked Pogba. 4 15 Crystal Palace 307 97 67 143 339 442 -103 358
Newcastle United (5-3-2): F Woodman 4 —
16 Sunderland 306 75 89 142 331 462 -131 314
J Manquillo 7 (J Murphy 77), I Hayden 5, 17 Swansea 266 82 66 118 306 383 -77 312
J Lascelles 6, C Clark 5 (J Lewis 84), M Ritchie 5 1%
— M Almirón 7, S Longstaff 5, J Willock 5 18 Burnley 269 76 63 130 268 407 -139 291
(J Hendrick 85) — Joelinton 6, A Saint-Maximin 6. 19 Fulham 267 69 69 129 287 421 -134 276
Referee A Taylor. Goal
20

20

20

20

20

20
20 Wolves 231 68 60 103 252 345 -93 264
09

11-

13

15

17

19
-18
-14

Attendance 72,732.
-16

-2
12
-10

Source: Sky Sports

0

PAUL HIRST
Forget Cristiano Ronaldo’s thumping
second goal and Bruno Fernandes’s
rocket, the most satisfying moment of
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s afternoon
came in first-half stoppage time.
That was when Ronaldo darted
between the flat-footed pair of Javier
Manquillo and Isaac Hayden and
stabbed the ball into the net after
Freddie Woodman had spilled Mason
Greenwood’s deflected shot.
Ronaldo has many positive
attributes — pace, experience, and
leadership among them — but
perhaps the most important quality he
will bring to Manchester United is his
predatory instinct deep inside the box.
Solskjaer, a poacher himself back in
the day, knows all too well the value
of having someone who can score
goals inside the six-yard area, and
pre-Ronaldo he knew his squad was
deficient in that regard.
Of the 121 goals that United scored
last season, only 18 came from inside
the six-yard box. Four were own
goals. Edinson Cavani, United’s only
other poacher, scored three and
Anthony Martial one.
The rest were single
goals shared around
the squad.
Ronaldo, on the other
hand, scored 12 of his 36
goals for Juventus last
season from six yards or less:
11 per cent of his shots came
from inside that area, which was
a career high.
In his first season at Real
Madrid 12 years ago, only 1
per cent of his shots on goal
were from that close. With age,
the Portuguese has adapted his
game to become less of a long-
shot merchant and more of a “fox
in the box”.
“Edinson and Cristiano have
been notorious goalscorers,”
Solskjaer, the United manager, said.
“They have that sense and feeling
of when to arrive in the box and
they know what can happen.
They have played the game, they
have played in every single
situation and they have got
that little knack, that little
sense that makes you think, ‘I’m
going to arrive here.’
“That was a typical goal. People will
say it was just a tap-in, but there is
more to it than that. The defenders
were watching [the ball] but Cristiano
was anticipating that rebound. It was
a great goal.”
Unless Solskjaer has a change of
heart — and there is no reason why
he should after Ronaldo’s
performance on Saturday — his new
signing will start up front again
tomorrow when United play Young
Boys in their Champions League
opener on the artificial turf of the
Wankdorf Stadium.
Cavani, 34, is struggling with a
slight injury that is likely to keep him
out of next Sunday’s away match
against West Ham United.
“Edinson got a knock in training so
maybe he will be out for a week or
so,” Solskjaer said. “He is still working
his way up to full fitness.”
That does not mean that Ronaldo
will be an ever-present in Solskjaer’s
side this season. Ronaldo may be in
fine physical shape but this is the
22nd season of his professional career
and the fixture list is so congested,
both domestically and
internationally, that he
could in theory play up to
71 matches this season.
Last term, he featured 58
times, and that included a
run to the last 16 of the
European Championship.
Solskjaer will tell his star
forward that he will
occasionally have to take a
back seat.
“Cristiano looks after himself
so much so I know he will
recover quickly,” Solskjaer said.
“It’s important that we get
everyone, including him, up
and running and to give him
90 minutes.
“We will see what we do but
no, it’s not impossible to leave
him out. He is 36. Mason is 19,
so it’s the same with him. I
have to manage his minutes,
and I have to manage a 36-
year-old’s minutes as well.”
Ronaldo scored twice on his
second debut for United
Typically for a man who has won Goals  
so much, Ronaldo has set his sights Sergio Agüero 1
184
high for his second spell at the club. Harry Kane 6
166
“We have fantastic players, a good
Wayne Rooney 1
128
coach, a good team. We need to build
up the mentality to win the Premier Jamie Vardy 120
League and even the Champions Romelu Lukaku 1
114
League,” he said. Robin van Persie 0
107
In the final third of the field, there Mohamed Salah 9
99
is no doubt that United have all the
Raheem Sterling 97
tools to challenge for the biggest
trophies this season. To highlight the Sadio Mané 96
wealth of their attacking talent, Olivier Giroud 90
Solskjaer brought on the France
international Anthony Martial, the
£40 million midfielder Donny van de
Beek and England’s Jesse Lingard, Assists Games played
who scored his first goal since
returning from his successful loan David Silva 93 Jordan Henderson 362
with West Ham United. Kevin De Bruyne 78
8 James Milner 361
“Jesse has had his hard times and Cesc Fàbregas 65 David de Gea 342
he is a lovely boy, or man, now,”
Solskjaer said. “He showed everyone Christian Eriksen 62 Ben Foster 332
with West Ham and England what James Milner 61 Mark Noble 330
kind of player he is and today was a Rooney 56 Gary Cahill 321
special day for him coming back and Eden Hazard 54 Gylfi Sigurdsson 318
scoring a goal in front of the fans. I Mesut Özil 54 Kyle Walker 318
am so pleased for him, and he is a top
player and person.” Juan Mata 54 David Silva 309
There are areas that require Sterling 51 Theo Walcott 308
improvement if United are to
challenge, however.
They looked vulnerable to counter-
attacks on Saturday. Had it not been
for David De Gea, who punched away
Joelinton’s powerful shot, the hosts
Queueing up with the
would have gone 2-1 down.
Nemanja Matic’s passing was the corner from the other Old
impressive, but he is not as mobile as
Scott McTominay, who deserves a
Visit to Old Trafford Trafford, which stood in sad silence
after the cancellation of the fifth Test
run alongside Paul Pogba in midfield highlights just how far between England and India.
as soon as he has recovered from a He was right, of course. “Like you
groin injury. The tenacious Scot Newcastle have sunk, can’t lose your virginity twice.” “Yes”
would have provided more protection — the perfect analogy, he said.
against the attacking threat posed by
Martin Hardy writes There were about eight or nine
Miguel Almirón and Allan Saint- Newcastle fans sitting around a table
Maximin on the break at the start of I knew it was a day like no other at the far corner. Good, long-suffering
the second half. when Cristiano Ronaldo got on the Newcastle fans, full of fun but devoid
Should the midfield line be broken, tram at Deansgate-Castlefield, along of optimism. The gloom army. Would
at least United now have a solid, with about two hundred Manchester it be five or six goals conceded?
authoritative defender alongside United fans who started banging the Where would the next point for their
Harry Maguire. Raphaël Varane, the roof as they chanted “Viva Ronaldo”. beloved club come from? Not one of
£43 million France international, Ronaldo — the cardboard cutout them could quite figure that one out.
impressed once again, particularly in version — was waved in the air as The entrance to the away section is
the air, which has been one of they sang. They were pumped in one of the livelier parts of Premier
United’s weak points in recent times. Manchester all right for the second League life; ten minutes before kick-
“Rapha is a winner,” Solskjaer said. coming. “It’s not a second debut off, a sea of red was swarming either
“He has come into the group really because you can’t have a second side. They were mainly hardened lads
well and he enjoys this kind of debut,” a Newcastle supporter told from Tyneside queueing, the Geordie
pressure.” me, inside The Quadrant pub, around lambs to the slaughter.
the times | Monday September 13 2021 1GG 5

7
Forr Manchester
Manchesster United

Goals  
G
Rooney
R 118
Anthony Martial 55
Marcus Rashford 55
Van Persie 48
Dimitar Berbatov 39
Chicharito 37
Juan Mata 34
Bruno Fernandes 29
Paul Pogba 28
Lukaku 28

Games
Gam
mes played Assists
de Gea 342
42 Rooney 54
Valencia 241 Valencia, Antonio 39
Rooney
Ro 236 Pogba 34
Michael
M Carrick 224 Nani 32
Ch Smalling
Chris 206 Rashford 30
Young
Yo 192 Mata 27
M
Mata 189 Ryan Giggs 26
Rashford
Ra 179 Martial 26
Pa
Patrice Evra 177 Ashley Young 25
Martial 170 Bruno Fernandes 19

T
Trophies

PL FA EFL CL EL Total
Man City 5 2 5 0 0 12
Chelsea 3 3 1 2 2 11
Man United 2 1 3 0 1 7
Arsenal 0 4 0 0 0 4
Liverpool 1 0 1 1 0 3
Leicester 1 1 0 0 0 2
Birmingham 0 0 1 0 0 1
Wigan 0 1 0 0 0 1
Swansea 0 0 1 0 0 1

No7 shirt (all competitions)

Games Goals

52 40 32 45 40
53

4 7
Mug
M
Mu
ug
ug 5 17
17 1

Michael Owen Ant

Antonio
ntoni
onio
o Valencia
Va
Vale Angel Di Maria Mem
M
Memphis
phi
h s Depay
Depaay Ale
A
Alexis
xis Sanchez
Sanch
chez Edinson Cavani
(2009-2012) (2012-2013) (2014-2015) (2015-2017) (2018-2020) (2020-2021)

gloom army, we felt like Geordie lambs to the slaughter

“You’re only here for Ronaldo,” a
fairly well-sauced Manchester United
fan slurred as he stumbled past.
“Aye, and so are yee,” came a
deadpan reply.
If Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and the
Glazers had been asked which club
they’d like to face for Ronaldo’s return
they’d have chosen Newcastle, a club
who have won only once at Old
Trafford in the Premier League.
It was at 2.53pm that the scarves
started swirling and Old Trafford
came to life. Three minutes before
kick-off the sound of “Viva Ronaldo”
echoed around the stadium and five
minutes into the game a Newcastle
fan behind me observed: “We haven’t
even got in their f***ing half yet!”
But Newcastle did actually play,
killing time early on to weather the
red storm, and then finding
opportunities through the trickery of
Allan Saint-Maximin and the tireless
running of Miguel Almirón. It would
take a bad goalkeeping mistake from
Freddy Woodman in first-half
stoppage time to gift Ronaldo the
opportunity to write a glorious
introduction to his return.
What followed was not predictable,
and certainly not expected.
Newcastle’s players, rather than being
deflated by the goal, attacked more.
In a a glorious move in which
Almirón skipped past Luke Shaw and
Harry Maguire before finding Saint-
Maximin to his right. All this was
unfolding in front of the travelling
support, so I could see Javier
Manquillo on the overlap and for a
brief moment it all went right — the
pass was perfect and the Spaniard
showed the requisite composure to
drill his finish into the far corner of
David De Gea’s goal. The away end
exploded in joy. For six minutes
Ronaldo and Mike Ashley and Steve
Bruce did not matter. Newcastle were
level. It is a club that now lives for
brief pockets of happiness.
Then Ronaldo scored again. It was
still a game, until Bruno Fernandes
struck a stunning third with ten
minutes left.
There is a circularity to it all. This
was Newcastle’s 500th away game in
the Premier League. The first point
Newcastle picked up in the Premier
League was in their second away
game, in 1993, at Old Trafford. I was
in the same away end. You are talking
chalk to cheese in terms of the energy
and the belief that the same part of
the same football ground held then
compared with Saturday.
As a football club Newcastle are
unrecognisable except for the colour
of their stripes. Then it was Kevin
Keegan, Sir John Hall, Rob Lee, Andy
Cole and the sky was the limit. The
whole thing was about growth.
In the 85th minute, when
Newcastle were losing 3-1, Solskjaer
replaced Mason Greenwood with
Donny van de Beek (£40 million) and
Fernandes with Anthony Martial
(£61 million). At the exact same
moment, Bruce replaced Joe Willock
with Jeff Hendrick, a free transfer
from Burnley.
There is always a quest for a key
moment, for a sign as to which
direction a club are pointing in. You
did not have to be Christopher
Columbus to figure that one out.
Jesse Lingard would later post a
picture of himself with Ronaldo when
he was a small boy. “Dream big, kids”
he tweeted. The kit Ronaldo has on in
the picture is from the 2003-04
campaign. The previous season
Newcastle had finished third, so there
is a chance Lingard, who scored the
fourth goal in stoppage time, and
Ronaldo, will remember a different
version of “that small club from the
north” (copyright A Ferguson, 2012).
It is unquestionably now getting
smaller. So many Newcastle fans have
given up. How to quantify that? The
club giving away 10,000 season tickets
in 2019 was another great sign.
By full-time a bedsheet banner was
being unveiled, to my left, with
“Ashley and co out” and then in
bigger, blue letters, “Bruce out”.
The first anti-Ashley song had
come at 3.11pm, the first of real
significance against Bruce not until
4.41pm. It was a sign that Newcastle
had done OK, and these days, at a
club with such dormant potential,
doing OK is pretty much as good as it
gets .
6 1GG
thegame
Laporte pushing Stones to margins
Leicester City 0 Laporte is part
Manchester City
Silva 62
1 conceded in
RATINGS
Leicester City (4-4-2): K Schmeichel 7 —
T Castagne 6, C Soyuncu 7, J Vestergaard 8
(J Evans 60min, 6), R Bertrand 6 — M Albrighton
6, W Ndidi 7, Y Tielemans 6, H Barnes 6
(A Lookman 73) — J Vardy 7, J Maddison 5
(K Iheanacho 73, 5). Booked Soyuncu.
Manchester City (4-3-3): Ederson 7 — K Walker 6,
R Dias 7, A Laporte 6, J Cancelo 6 — I Gundogan
8, Rodri 6, B Silva 9 — G Jesus 7 (Fernandinho
83), F Torres 6 (R Sterling 63, 6), J Grealish 7.
Booked Laporte, Rodri.
Referee P Tierney.
Attendance 32,087.
IAN WHITTELL
Bernardo Silva, a player supposedly
surplus to requirements for Pep
Guardiola this summer, continued to
do a passable impression of someone
who still has a bright future in
Manchester City’s squad but, at the
other end of the field, much the same
could also be said of Aymeric Laporte.
Like Silva, the Spain centre half
appeared to be on his way out of the
Etihad Stadium as City sought to
raise money, or offer player
exchanges, in their pursuit of the
Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry
Kane.
Instead Laporte has been allowed
to form a rock-solid partnership with
Rúben Dias at the heart of a City
defence that has not conceded in
three league games, all of them
victories.
It is a state of affairs that,
surprisingly, has left John Stones, an
automatic choice for Gareth
Southgate at international level, as
the odd man out for the moment,
even if the Yorkshireman could be
awarded his first start of the season
when City open their Champions
League campaign at home to RB
Leipzig on Wednesday.
If not then, Stones’s day will come,
of course, given he formed such a
strong pairing with Dias in last
season’s title triumph. That he has
played nine times for England since
his most recent City appearance, the
Champions League final defeat by
Chelsea in May, is enough to at least
raise an eyebrow.
With the Holland player Nathan
Aké also part of his plans, Guardiola
is conscious that all four of his
Versatile Wolves are fizzing under Lage – but Watford now look flat
IVAN SPECK
As Francisco Sierralta’s header sailed
into his own net to give
Wolverhampton Wanderers the lead
at Vicarage Road, it was impossible
not to believe that here were two
Iberian-led ships passing in the
Premier League night.
For Watford’s Spanish head coach,
Xisco Muñoz, the brightness of an
opening-day victory over Aston Villa
has been dulled by three straight
defeats. He and his team look
destined for a struggle in the lower
reaches of the table.
Portugal’s Bruno Lage, however,
seems to be on the verge of a
breakthrough at Wolves. Although
Lage started his reign with three 1-0
defeats in the league, Wolves played
well in all of those matches and
showed again here that they are
combining possession of the ball with
frontline central defenders will be
used this season. But, after three
clean sheets and a combined goal
difference of 11-0 in his side’s past
three outings, the City manager is
equally aware that his present starters
will not be easy to leave out.
“Aym is playing incredibly well,”
Watford
Wolves
Sierralta (og) 74, Hwang 83
RATINGS
Watford (4-5-1): D Bachmann 7 — J Ngakia 7,
W Troost-Ekong 6, F Sierralta 5, D Rose 6 — I Sarr 7,
M Sissoko 8, P Etebo 5 (Sema 77min), J Kucka 6,
E Dennis 5 — J King 6 (C Hernandez 53, 5). Booked
Rose, Dennis, Etebo.
Wolverhampton Wanderers (4-4-2): J Sa 6 —
M Kilman 6, C Coady 7, R Saiss 5, Marcal 6 —
N Semedo 6, R Neves 7, J Moutinho 7, A Traore 8
(Podence 81) — F Trincao 7 (Hwang Hee-Chan 63,
7), R Jimenez 7. Booked Marcal, Kilman, Jimenez.
Referee P Bankes.
Attendance 20,019.
compelling movement. The manager
has displayed tactical astuteness and
an ability to swap his players around
depending on need.
Three defeats without a win or even
a goal in August may have worried
some outsiders, but Lage’s players did
LEE SMITH/REUTERS
of a City back
line that has not
three straight
league matches
TIGHTENING UP AT THE BACK
Shots on goal conceded
Manchester City have allowed
opponents only one shot on target per
match in the Premier League
2016-2017
2017-2018 2.3
2018-2019 2.2
2019-2020
2020-2021 2.6
1 City, Brendan Rodgers, has similar
2021-2022
Premier League minutes played
Aymeric Laporte has been key to City's
defensive record this season while John
Stones, a mainstay last season, has not
played a minute
Laporte Stones
2017-2018 807 172
2018-2019 3,057
2019-2020 1,104 1,119
2020-2021 1,343
2021-2022 270 0 pressed straight away on [Kyle]
Guardiola said. “Rúben is like last “Especially, it is the fact we don’t
season and I know what is going to concede much. Against Norwich
happen with John and Nathan. [City] it was one shot on target,
“It is a contribution from everyone; against Arsenal the same and today
the real reason last season that we was a bit more but not much more.
won the Premier League was that we “Against Leicester [City] that is not
were incredibly solid and made clean easy and that is a key point. [If] you
sheets. are able to concede few chances, then
not look the least concerned, because the way he wants us to play
0 confidently stroking the ball around
the lush Vicarage Road pitch.
is fantastic. We’re trying to play on
the front foot and in a different
The irony was that while way and the belief has never
2 they failed to finish intricate left.”
moves, their first victory Lage combined the
was secured by an own brute physical power and
goal and a scrambled pace of Adama Traoré
second from the South with the guile and
Korean substitute, twinkle toes of Francisco
Hwang Hee-chan. Trincão to stretch Watford
“We’ve had two scruffy for the first hour, then
goals today, but we don’t introduced Hwang and
care,” the Wolves captain, Daniel Podence to exploit the
Conor Coady, said. “We’ve gaps that the starting pair had
been patient. We always created. Podence’s trickery
knew the goals would helped to serve up Hwang’s
come. We’ve been listening goal.
to the manager every day Lage was at pains to stress
and trying to take on his that Traoré’s time in front of
ideas. It’s important that goal will come, but also
we keep listening to him insisted that he will deploy his
players as need dictates.
Hwang came off the “Every game needs a
bench to score a second different strategy,” Lage said.
Monday September 13 2021 | the times
you can control the game and are
going to win it. We have a deep squad.
In the last two games, against
Norwich and Arsenal, the guys who
played were amazing and at a very
high level and they deserved to play.
“The guys who didn’t play have to
be ready. This is the only reason we
had success in previous seasons —
everyone made contributions and the
guys who played well have more
options to play in the next one.
“The guys who don’t play well have
more problems. Now the guys have to
wait for their moment, and when it
comes, to show their quality.”
Some of Guardiola’s squad will
undoubtedly get that opportunity
against Leipzig on Wednesday as City
open play in a group that also
features Club Bruges and, of course,
Lionel Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain.
The meeting with PSG, and the
global icon with whom Guardiola will
forever be linked, has dominated
Champions League conversation,
although the City manager is
guarding against such a narrative.
“The most difficult game we have
in the group will be the first, against
Leipzig,” Guardiola said. “This is the
most important game of the group
stage. I have not thought one second
about PSG.
“The teams we are going to face are
so, so difficult. I know the rhythm and
2.8 the quality, the pace [Leipzig] have. It
will be a good test but it is important
to arrive in the test the way we played
3 against Leicester.”
His opposite number at Leicester
selection decisions to make this week,
with his side opening their own
European campaign in Thursday’s
Europa League tie with Napoli.
Kelechi Iheanacho and the on-loan
Leipzig winger Ademola Lookman
made decent contributions off the
bench against City, while the veteran
1,763 defender Jonny Evans made his first
appearance since the FA Cup final.
1,934
“Ademola’s bright, first of all,”
Rodgers said. “One action, where he
Walker, shows he has that intensity
— and over the course of the season
we’ll see his football ability. I’m
looking forward to working with him.
“And I’m just really happy with
Kelechi’s contribution. I see him every
day, I know areas he can improve on,
but it’s nice now that we have
confidence in him that he’ll
contribute.”
“When you need players with a
different profile, we have those kinds
of players. The second goal was a
good example of finding space
between the lines.
“When it’s a one-on-situation on
the outside, we have Adama. He
scores a lot of goals in training, this is
just a period he is going through. He
works hard to improve this skill and
the goals will come for him.”
Watford showed promise down the
right, with the new signing Moussa
Sissoko establishing a symbiotic link
with Ismaïla Sarr, but they were
prosaic elsewhere on the pitch.
Muñoz has brought in a raft of new
players, but settling them in during
the season will be tricky if they are to
avoid a relegation struggle. “I know
what the Premier League is, I know
what the process is when it comes to
new players and I know what our
level is right now,” he said. “This is the
moment to start work on it.”
the times | Monday September 13 2021
Saúl, right, attempts to block a shot by Douglas Luiz. His stray passes nearly led to Chelsea conceding on multiple occasions before he was substituted at half-time
Jorginho shows Saúl way
back from a torrid start
Chelsea
Lukaku 15, 90+3, Kovacic 49
3 title this season, rather than scrape a
Aston Villa 0 “Since Diego [Costa] we didn’t have
RATINGS
Chelsea (3-4-3): E Mendy 8 — T Chalobah 7,
T Silva 7, A Rüdiger 7 — C Hudson-Odoi 6
(T Werner 82min), M Kovacic 8, S Ñíguez 5
(Jorginho 46, 7), M Alonso 6 — H Ziyech 6,
R Lukaku 8, K Havertz 5 (C Azpilicueta 64, 7).
Booked Alonso.
Aston Villa (3-5-2): J Steer 6 — E Konza 6,
T Mings 4, A Tuanzebe 5 — M Cash 6, J Ramsey
6 (L Bailey 56, 6), D Luiz 6 (M Nakamba 79),
J McGinn 7, M Targett 6 — D Ings 6
(B Traore 69, 6), O Watkins 6. Booked Mings,
Targett, Ramsey, McGinn.
Referee S Attwell. Attendance 16,518.
PAUL ROWAN
Rom v Ron is set to be one of the
storylines of this Premier League
season, but Chelsea owed just as
much to what is happening behind
Romelu Lukaku for their high-flying
place in the table.
Édouard Mendy had to pull off a
string of good saves to make sure that
Chelsea stayed in the ascendancy
throughout before they eventually
quelled Aston Villa’s ambitions. It also
took the introduction of an old head,
Jorginho, at half-time, to calm the
nerves after Thomas Tuchel had
made a rare mistake by starting the
game with new signing Saúl Ñíguez in
the centre of midfield.
Still, Lukaku grabs the headlines
and deservedly so for he had two
chances on Saturday at Stamford
Bridge and scored from both of them,
which is reason enough for Chelsea to
1GG
believe that they will challenge for the
Champions League spot, which has
been the ambition in recent seasons.
a striker scoring more than 20 goals
and you see all the good teams in the
last few years who have won the
league, you need someone in the top-
scorer’s list,” said Chelsea’s captain for
the day, Marcos Alonso. “That’s what
we will have with Lukaku this
season.”
Of Lukaku’s individual battle with
Cristiano Ronaldo, Alonso said: “It
will be a tough fight but of course he’s
got a chance, no? If the whole team
deliver for him and be together and
put in performances like this, he’s just
going to have to score the goals.”
For his part, Tuchel said that he did
not care about hyped up head-to-
head rivalries. His attention, no
doubt, was more focused on striking
the difficult balance between picking
players not exhausted by the intensive
international window and ones that
will also be ready to take on Zenit
Saint Petersburg tomorrow in the
Champions League.
With Andreas Christensen rested
after playing three games in six days
for Denmark, Tuchel was fortunate to
have Thiago Silva in the team as a
result of a Brazilian FA amnesty on
invoking the Fifa five-day rule for
players who did not show for
international duty, while Villa had
their two Argentina players, Emi
Martínez and Emiliano Buendía, in
quarantine.
Petr Cech, the former Chelsea
goalkeeper turned diplomat, was busy
behind the scenes on that. Another
international refusenik, Callum
Hudson-Odoi — who snubbed an
England Under-21 call-up — also
made a rare start, but even with such
strength in depth Chelsea looked
stretched at times.
Dean Smith ambitiously opted to
go toe to toe with Chelsea, which
caused his opponents plenty of
uncomfortable moments, but also
made Lukaku’s first goal look
relatively easy.
Mateo Kovacic dropped the
shoulder and body swerved to beat
the Villa press and his deceptive
speed carried him into space where
he produced a brilliant ball behind
the high line of the visitors’ defence.
Lukaku cut inside Axel Tuanzebe and
dispatched the ball past Jed Steer with
his right foot.
Beside Kovacic, Saúl was not so
comfortable. His passing was
wayward and he was swarmed by
Villa men when he tried to break
the press, to the point where it
took a great block by Silva from
Ollie Watkins to keep Chelsea
ahead.
No surprise, then, when
Jorginho replaced Saúl
at half-time and while
Villa still looked
dangerous, they
conceded a soft goal
when Tyrone
Mings’s back-pass
was seized on by
Kovacic in the 49th
minute and their
energy levels
Lukaku has three
goals in three games
JAVIER GARCIA/REX
22%
Percentage of Saúl’s touches
that led to Chelsea losing
possession, explaining why
he was substituted at
half-time by Thomas Tuchel
dropped after the hour mark, such
was the effort they made in trying to
stay with Chelsea.
“He [Jorginho] has a close
connection to Thiago to be strong in
the build up and to find gaps behind
the high pressing of Villa,” Tuchel
said. “He is a top player, he is used to
the league and is full of confidence.”
Jorginho’s early days at Chelsea
were difficult ones, as were Kai
Havertz’s, so Saúl won’t have to go
too far to get some advice on settling
in at this demanding club. It was
Jorginho and another Chelsea
stalwart sprung from the bench, César
Azpilicueta, who combined to set up
Lukaku’s second and Chelsea’s third
in injury time, his lethal finishing in
stark contrast to that of Villa’s, who
should have tested Mendy more given
the chances they created, particularly
when Ezri Konsa headed tamely at
the goalkeeper when he had a free
header in the second half.
“It was slightly unjust,” Smith
said. “But they had a £95 million
striker putting the ball in the
top bin in the 94th minute.”
With N’Golo Kanté set to
return from an ankle
problem, Chelsea look in
good shape going in to the
defence of their Champions
League title tomorrow night
in West London. “It will be
harder,” Alonso said. “Last
season we were underdogs
and we slipped through very
quietly.” Everybody can
see Chelsea coming
this season, but
stopping them is
another matter.
7
thegame
Late defeat is
a top-flight
reality check
for Brentford
Brentford 0
Brighton
Trossard 90
1
RATINGS
Brentford (3-5-2): D Raya 7 — K Ajer 7,
P Jansson 7, E Pinnock 7 — S Canós 6
(M Roerslev 61min, 6), C Norgaard 6,
S Baptiste 7 (F Onyeka 75), V Janelt 6
(M Jensen 68, 5), R Henry 7 — B Mbeumo 6,
I Toney 7. Booked Ajer, Mbeuma, Canos.
Brighton & Hove Albion (3-4-1-2): R Sánchez 7
— A Webster 7 (J Moder 37, 6), S Duffy 7,
L Dunk 7 — J Veltman 7, A Lallana 6,
Y Bissouma 7, M Cucurella 6 (S March 82) —
L Trossard 8 — N Maupay 6, D Welbeck 6
(A Mac Allister 64, 6). Booked Veltman, Duffy.
Referee G Scott.
Attendance 16,518.
JON WEST
Brentford might have been the better
side but after losing to a Brighton &
Hove Albion team who had ten
internationals on the pitch at one
point, for the first time in their
history, they will now realise what it is
like to be four years behind a team on
the same journey.
But what a journey it is. The pair
are two of the four present top-flight
teams who dropped all the way to the
fourth tier and battled their way back
again, a process Brentford began in
1947 and Brighton completed in 2017.
That Thomas Frank and co would
first taste Premier League defeat in
their fourth fixture since promotion,
having beaten Arsenal and drawn
with Crystal Palace and Aston Villa,
exceeded the expectations of most on
Saturday but this game was a reality
check nonetheless.
Brighton turned two shots on target
into three points; Brentford forced
Robert Sánchez into only one save on
a day when the new Spain cap could
have been beaten three or four times.
The main culprit for Brentford’s
profligacy was Bryan Mbeumo, who
squandered three first-half chances.
Twice he blasted over from inside the
box before curling an effort just the
wrong side of the far post.
“I’m sure Bryan’s first goal in the
Premier League will be just around
the corner,” Frank said. “He will
probably only need five games to get
it — which means he scores in the
next game. He has been one of our
best players so far, so consistent and
working hard to make opportunities.”
The only goal of the game came
when Leandro Trossard accepted a
pass from substitute Alexis Mac
Allister, negotiated his way along the
18-yard line and slotted a low drive
into the far corner to win the game.
Brighton manager Graham Potter
hailed his cosmopolitan squad, with
Neal Maupay, the former Brentford
striker, the only non-senior cap on
the pitch when Adam Webster was
forced off before half-time with a
hamstring injury.
“I am proud of the club, I’m proud
of the players,” he said. “It’s great they
can be involved in their national
teams, it’s great we have that diversity
and togetherness as well. We have
people from different parts of the
world that bring different experiences
and different views on things.”
Trossard was particularly lively
despite having played in Belarus with
Belgium last week. “The more games
I play, the better I will play,” he said.
8 1GG Monday September 13 2021 | the times

thegame
WINTER’S
WEEKEND
WONDERS
Chief Football Writer on mixed debuts
Winks is literally
and Kovacic’s accomplished display Crystal Palace
Zaha 76 (pen), Édouard 84, 90+3
3 GALLAGHER DOMINATES
WINKS
LAURENCE GRIFFITHS/GETTY IMAGES Tottenham 0 Connor Gallagher played 90 minutes
and Harry Winks only 60 but as these
RATINGS maps of their passes show, Gallagher
Crystal Palace (4-3-3) V Guaita 6 — J Ward 7, was busier and more ambitious in his
J Andersen 7, M Guéhi 7, T Mitchell 6 — passing, while Winks offered little
C Gallagher 8, C Kouyaté 7 (L Milivojevic 67min,
6), J McArthur 7 — J Ayew 6 (M Olise 86),
thrust
C Benteke 6 (O Édouard 84), W Zaha 8. Conor Gallagher passes
Booked Zaha, Gallagher.
Tottenham Hotspur (4-3-2-1) H Lloris 5 —
E Royal 5, J Tanganga 4, E Dier 6 (J Rodon 12, 6),
S Reguilón 6 — P-E Hojbjerg 5, O Skipp 5,
H Winks 5 (B Davies 60) — L Moura 6, D Alli 5 —
H Kane 5. Booked Moura. Sent off Tanganga.
Referee J Moss

GARY JACOB

It was nearly four years ago that

Exemplary Ronaldo’s impact immeasurable
Who else? How many
willingness to gamble, as he did
Harry Winks delivered his most
assured and influential performance Successful
for Tottenham Hotspur. The Attacking
Unsuccessful direction
midfielder’s passing was crisp and
precise, he outshone Luka Modric and Harry Winks passes
Toni Kroos and disrupted Real
Madrid’s supply line in a 3-1 win in
the Champions League.

1 reasons? People look

at the shirt sales, the
share price and the
social-media imprints
but Cristiano Ronaldo’s impact on
Manchester United is actually
immeasurable. It’s the emotional
uplift off the field, the raising of
standards on the pitch, it’s his
presence and the appliance of a
special talent. It’s the
36-year-old’s intelligence and
Zaha gave Royal a
real baptism of fire
Poor Emerson Royal.
following up Mason Greenwood’s
shot for his first goal on Saturday.
It’s the Portuguese’s two-footed
strength, controlling Luke Shaw’s
pass with his right, then finishing
with his left for the second. It’s
also the athleticism, the speed to
race away from Newcastle
United’s defence at Old Trafford
for that second. Ronaldo truly is
more than a signing. He’s a
catalyst.
Complete display by
underrated Kovacic
Chelsea have such
Winks was 21 and months later
Mauricio Pochettino likened him to
Xavi and Andrés Iniesta, who pulled
the strings for Barcelona. His former
manager’s caveat to that striking
comparison has been forgotten. “He
needs to take my words in a very
positive way but he needs a lot of
work,” Pochettino said. “The reality is
he still needs to prove [himself].”
Put another way, only relentless Successful Attacking
dedication would enable Winks to be Unsuccessful direction
bracketed with the best. Regardless of
the hard work he has put in, it is clear
that he has not developed and is not
able to control matches in the way
that Pochettino would have imagined.
There was a tireless display in the

2 What a welcome to
the Premier League
for Tottenham
Hotspur’s new right
back. Only Wilfried Zaha flying at
him, twisting him all over. Japhet
Tanganga’s fuse was soon burning.
Now 28, the Crystal Palace
attacker seems the perfect mix of
enduring athleticism and
enhanced decision-making, as
seen in his run that led to
Odsonne Edouard’s first goal. The
new arrival from Celtic will surely
bring even more out of Zaha’s
game, giving him a target man to
work towards and off, a forward to
finish off Zaha’s rich approach
work.
Have Arsenal found
right back answer?
Arsenal have been
3 riches in central
midfield with N’Golo
Kanté and Jorginho
that Mateo Kovacic’s
influence can occasionally be
under-played. Saúl Ñíguez stepped
into midfield against Aston Villa
but Kovacic simply displayed the
range in his game, with a dribble
and pass to release Romelu
Lukaku for the Belgian’s first goal,
and then the anticipation to seize
on Tyrone Mings’s poor pass to
score himself.
With performances like this,
against good opponents like Villa,
Kovacic really looks such an
accomplished all-round midfield
player.
Energised by debut
of Gibbs-White
On loan from
4-2 defeat by Barcelona in October
2018 but, overall, if anything he has
gone backwards in the past couple of
years. At the age of 25 a stale Winks
finds himself looking at the
crossroads. He made only nine league
starts last season and played just one
minute in the top flight this campaign
before a first start on Saturday.
Two successive club managers have
struggled to accommodate him in
their systems and get the best from
him. He also lost his place in the
England squad in the new year
having previously been picked ability to dribble past players, create By next year Winks will have been
regularly by Gareth Southgate, who space or spot a pass. associated with the club for 20 years.
said he admired Winks’s calmness. Ndombele has accepted that he has He opted against pushing for a fresh
At Tottenham, Winks has often to knuckle down after not getting a start this summer when Tottenham
been used as a deep-lying midfielder, summer move and was named in the were open to offers. But the club also
which might well have hindered his squad for the first time. He may get slapped a £40 million price tag on
chances of showing his true passing his chance to shine when Tottenham him, which discouraged Aston Villa
ability and sense of adventure; it has play away to Rennes in the Europa and Everton from pursuing their
left him with only two goals and two Conference League on Thursday. interest. A year ago he was reported
assists in 111 league appearances. Winks’s impact contrasted with the to be wanted by Manchester City,
He has often been criticised for one made by Conor Gallagher, who who immediately denied having an

4 crying out for a right

back who does not
get caught out of
position, who has the
pace to recover, who is physically
resilient and who possesses decent
distribution. Basically someone
reliable.
Takehiro Tomiyasu, the 22-
year-old Japan international,
needs testing against more
exacting opposition than Norwich
City before any proper judgment
can be made but this was
undeniably promising.
Arsenal will need to see more
attacking from him but as he is
settling in, getting to know his
team-mates and picking up the
intensity of the Premier League,
this was an encouraging debut.
5 Wolverhampton
Wanderers, Morgan
Gibbs-White, the
21-year-old attacking
midfield player, excelled on his
debut for Sheffield United,
creating one goal and scoring
another in the 6-2 Championship
win over Peterborough United.
Sheffield United fans are
already enthused about Gibbs-
White’s contribution as well as his
understanding with Iliman
Ndiaye.
Sheffield United’s season looked
finally to have started, and Gibbs-
White has helped energise them.
Wolves can recall him in January,
a potential frustration, but they
will enjoy Gibbs-White until then
at the very least.
playing the ball ten yards sideways
and taking the safest option, rather
than dictating the tempo. Saturday
was a case in point as he squandered
opportunities to release Sergio
Reguilón, in clear space, and Emerson
Royal, both of whom are attacking
full backs trying to make up for the
lack of width in the side. Tottenham
managed only two shots on goal (one
on target), which was their lowest
total in the league since a goalless
game against Blackburn Rovers in
August 2005.
Winks was part of a stodgy midfield
trio alongside Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg
and Oliver Skipp. It was one thing not
to start Tanguy Ndombele but for
Nuno Espírito Santo not to even
bring on the France midfielder was
more perplexing. None of the three
who started can match Ndombele’s
showed a desire to run with the ball
into dangerous areas, attempted six
shots and threaded a pass to create a
chance for the second of two debut
goals by Odsonne Édouard, adding to
Wilfried Zaha’s converted penalty.
Gallagher, whose brace rescued a
point against West Ham United, is on
his second spell away from Chelsea.
Pochettino’s view of the young Winks
was that he would be better served by
staying put.
Winks featured more in Europe last
season, making eight starts in the
Europa League. This season he has
started both legs against Paços de
Ferreira in the Conference League,
with mixed fortunes. He missed a
tackle that led to a goal and defeat in
Portugal and made a strong challenge
that helped to create Harry Kane’s
second goal in the return leg.
interest.
Winks did not endear himself to
the head coach at the time, José
Mourinho, by losing possession
against West Ham — an error that
led to an equaliser in a 3-3 draw in
October last year. That performance
cost him playing time in the league
for the next two months.
He is one of new head coach
Nuno’s problems before they meet
Chelsea on Sunday. The centre backs
Cristian Romero and Davinson
Sánchez are scheduled to return from
isolation in Croatia a day before the
game. One of them may have to start
after Eric Dier suffered a shin injury
and Japhet Tanganga was sent off
after picking up two yellow cards.
Having enjoyed a relaxing
honeymoon, reality seems to have
kicked in for Nuno.
the times | Monday September 13 2021 1GG 9

TONY
CASCARINO
going backwards IAN WALTON/REUTERS
Gregor
Greg
G regor RoRobertson
obe son
visitss ???????????????
???????????
???? ???
??
THEIR INFLUENCE COMPARED
IAN WALTON/REUTERS
Weekend talking points
Conor Harry

90
Gallagher
Minutes played
Winks

60
Spurs got tactics wrong,
38
Passes
23
Forward passes
Zaha did everything right
12 5
Passes successful
There was a lot to like from
Crystal Palace in their 3-0 TEAM OF THE WEEK
29 21
victory against Tottenham — and a
Passing accuracy 4-3-3
lot to hate about Spurs. Mendy
76.3 91.3
The Spurs midfield was dreadful. Chelsea
Touches You can’t go into a match with three
73 35 holding midfielders. If you have two
Possession lost Alexander- Laporte Van Dijk Mitchell
holding midfielders, as England do, Arnold Man City Liverpool C Palace
22 5 you can have full backs who bomb Liverpool
Touches: Possession lost % on. But with three holding
30% 14% midfielders — Oliver Skipp, Harry
Shots, total (inc. blocks) Winks and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg Kovacic Gallagher B Silva
6 0 Chelsea C Palace Man City
— you have no chance. Harry Kane
Chances created (inc. assists) likes to drop deep, but that’s of no
3 0 use when you’ve got three holding Salah Ronaldo Zaha
players because he can’t get deeper Liverpool Man Utd C Palace
than them. Everyone has talked
about it, but Kane didn’t have a
single touch in the box, which is a
complete waste for a striker of his
quality against a team Spurs would
hope to beat more often than not.
Nuno Espírito Santo clearly got leaving in the summer and he
his selection wrong, which is a seems a lot happier with the team.
worry. There were positive signs for On Saturday he had a smile on
Palace though, in particular his face. He gave Emerson Royal a
Wilfried Zaha. I was quite critical of torrid time. The Spurs right back
him last year. There was a match at didn’t know how to handle him at
Stamford Bridge early last season, all. He was the match-winner and
when they lost 4-0 to Chelsea, the man who made the difference.
when he just looked to be in a sulk On that form he really should be
all game. He looked angry. playing at a Champions League
But for the first time in several team — at his best he is an absolute
years there wasn’t much talk of him joy to watch.

Newcastle are letting Indestructible Ronaldo

Saint-Maximin down
I feel for Allan Saint-Maximin
at Newcastle. He’s playing well,
but he never has any options. He
can eliminate defenders, but he
looks up and sees nothing is on.
Winks, once He’s beaten a man and there’s
hotly tipped, literally no one to pass to, so he has
was outshone to try to do something else and the
by Gallagher, move breaks down. You can’t say his
inset, in end product isn’t any good as he so
Palace’s win often doesn’t have the chance to
produce an end product. Newcastle
doesn’t have a red zone
Everyone is talking about how
good Cristiano Ronaldo is at
goalscoring — and no one can
doubt that. But he’d have nowhere
near the amount of goals he does if
he wasn’t so durable. When do you
ever open the paper and read that
Ronaldo is “doubtful with a
hamstring” or facing a fitness test?
He’s pretty much indestructible.
The sheer number of games he gets
through is astonishing. Lionel Messi

Broja could be the answer to Ings
Southampton 0 United has put him firmly in the
West Ham Utd 0 Chelsea, spent last season at Vitesse
RATINGS
Southampton (4-1-4-1): A McCarthy 7 —
V Livramento 5, J Stephens 6, M Salisu 7,
R Perraud 6 — O Romeu 5 (I Diallo 53min, 6)
— N Redmond 5, J Ward-Prowse 6,
M Elyounoussi 5, M Djenepo 6 — A Armstrong
5 (A Broja 74). Booked Romeu, Stephens,
Salisu.
West Ham United (4-2-3-1): L Fabianski 6 —
V Coufal 5, C Dawson 6, A Ogbonna 6,
A Cresswell 6 — T Soucek 6, D Rice 7 —
J Bowen 6 (A Yarmolenko 83), P Fornals 6,
S Benrahma 5 (N Vlasic 63, 6) — M Antonio 4.
Booked Antonio, Rice. Sent off Antonio.
Referee D Coote.
NICK SZCZEPANIK
In the discussions about how
Southampton might replace Danny
Ings after the striker was sold to
Aston Villa last month, very few
people mentioned Armando Broja.
But his impressive 16-minute cameo
as a substitute against West Ham
conversation.
Broja, 20, who is on loan from
Arnhem in the Dutch Eredivisie,
scoring ten goals. Born in Slough to
Albanian parents, he has eight caps
for Albania and scored their winner
against Hungary in a World Cup
qualifier eight days ago. And the St
Mary’s crowd could see for
themselves the pace, trickery and
aerial power that worried the
experienced West Ham defence.
The pace was on view when he
turned past Angelo Ogbonna wide
on the right before just failing to pick
out a team-mate with a low cross.
The trickery came when he
shrugged aside Craig Dawson then
ran at the covering Ogbonna,
working himself enough of an angle
to shoot past Lukasz Fabianski, only
for the ball to hit the post. The aerial
power was on show as he leapt in
added time to head past Fabianski,
the ball hacked desperately off the
line by Declan Rice.
Perhaps it is hardly surprising that
Broja passed under the radar given
that Ralph Hasenhüttl, the
Southampton manager, had doubts
about the youngster himself. “At the
beginning he was a little bit . . . I
wouldn’t say lazy, but he didn’t show
what qualities he has,” the Austrian
said. “When you come to a new club
you must, so that players have
respect for you. He did this in the
last two games when he was coming
on [as a substitute], it was definitely
there. I think this is what we want to
see from him and he showed us.”
Neither side got the crowd off
their feet before Broja came on, but
David Moyes, with an eye on the
beginning of West Ham’s Europa
League campaign in Zagreb on
Thursday, refused to blame his
team’s first blank of the season on
fatigue caused by international call-
ups. “I don’t think the result was
anything to do with tiredness,” he
said. “The players have been terrific.
We’ll have to consider what we feel
like in three weeks’ time but I don’t
think we’re tired now.”
can point to the fact that against
Manchester United Callum Wilson
was missing, but you can’t just rely
on one player to get into the box.
There have to be other options. The
danger for Newcastle is that Saint-
Maximin will get frustrated. He’ll be
fed up with creating things and it
coming to nothing. He could well
end up looking to move to a new
club with players who can make the
most of his chances.
Raducanu puts Bromley
on the map once more
Emma Raducanu’s amazing
success at the US Open means
that I have been relegated to being
the sixth most famous person from
Bromley. I was very proud of being
the fifth but I was delighted for
Emma anyway, like everyone else
around here. It’s a great part of the
world to live in, with amazing walks
and parks. Rio Ferdinand and Scott
Minto are from around here as well.
I tried tennis during my playing
career but unfortunately picked up
a hamstring injury, so that was the
end of that.
is similar, but with Ronaldo it’s a
different level of durability. I played
until I was 38 and thought I was
fairly hardy, but I would get injuries
— the odd calf or hamstring strain.
But Ronaldo keeps on playing and
playing and playing — and he has
180 caps for Portugal, so he doesn’t
get a rest during the international
breaks, which some players do.
People talk about the red zone, but
with Ronaldo there is no such thing.
Watkins the winner over
Lukaku even in defeat
I thought Ollie Watkins was
the best striker on show at
Stamford Bridge — and that’s
despite Romelu Lukaku scoring two
and Aston Villa losing 3-0! But he
was excellent and neither he nor
Villa deserved to be on the end of
that scoreline. That was one of the
best performances I’ve seen from a
striker in a defeat. He showed how
complete a player he can be. He ran
behind, got it to feet, he was
twisting and turning and taking
shots from distance. It was a very
impressive all-round performance.
10
Game in
numbers
Bill Edgar on one-club legends and an
Epsom-born player who loves
a derby
Venus and the
star
The 12 years and four months
between Cristiano Ronaldo’s past
two top-flight appearances is the
longest since Mark Venus played for
Leicester City in 1987 and
reappeared for Ipswich Town
13 years and three months later in
2000. The record gap of 16 years
and nine months is held by
goalkeeper Gerry Peyton, who made
successive top-division appearances
for Burnley in April 1976 and
Chelsea in January 1993. Ronaldo,
who helped Manchester United beat
Newcastle United at 36 years and
seven months, was the oldest player
to score two non-penalty goals in a
top-flight game since Les
Ferdinand for Leicester City in
October 2003.
Neck and neck
Liverpool and Chelsea are dead level
in the table on points, goal
difference and goals scored — as
they have been after all four rounds
of matches this season. They both
won their first two games 3-0 and
then 2-0 before drawing 1-1 with
Arteta: I’ve felt like hitting myself
Arsenal
Aubameyang 66
1 pressure, let his shoulders relax and
Norwich City 0 criticisms had affected him.
RATINGS
Arsenal (4-2-3-1): A Ramsdale 7 — T Tomiyasu 7
(E Smith Rowe 62min, 7) B White 7, Gabriel 6,
K Tierney 6 — A Maitland-Niles 7 (Cedric, 82),
A Lokonga 6 (T Partey 62, 6) — N Pépé 6,
M Odegaard 6, B Saka 6 — P-E Aubameyang 7.
Booked White, Partey.
Norwich City (4-1-4-1): T Krul 7 — M Aarons 6,
G Hanley 7, A Omobamidele 6, B Williams 7 —
L Rupp 6 (A Idah, 80) — K Dowell 6 (T Cantwell,
62, 6) P Lees-Melou 6, K McLean 6, C Tzolis 5
(M Rashica, 69 5) — T Pukki 7. Booked Aarons,
Hanley.
Referee M Oliver.
ALYSON RUDD
Something had to give. For all the
club’s talk of planning for the future,
another defeat to a newly promoted
team would have been just too much
to bear and the clamour for a change
of manager would have been raucous.
Relief then that Arsenal defeated
Norwich City and won their first
points of the campaign, but
something else was different. Mikel
Arteta, usually so composed, so
each other; then they triumphed 3-0
this weekend, Chelsea beating
Aston Villa on Saturday and
Liverpool defeating Leeds United
yesterday. It was Liverpool’s second
consecutive match to end with them
facing ten men and it left them on
ten points after their No 10, Sadio
Mané, scored from his tenth and
final shot. It was Liverpool’s 200th
consecutive game in which they
started with a back four. If
Chelsea follow that victory over
Aston Villa by beating Zenit Saint
Petersburg tomorrow, they will be
the first English league club for
44 years to defeat A and Z clubs in
consecutive games, since Liverpool
beat Arsenal and then FC Zurich in
April 1977.
serious, so unflappable in the face of
he opened up so that we could
understand how the poor results and
In preparing for this game after the
heavy 5-0 defeat against
Manchester City, the
Spaniard admitted he hit
rock bottom only to be
buoyed by the support
of the hierarchy and
his family.
“You are upset with
yourself, you are
angry, you are tired,”
he said. “You just want
to hit yourself because
you are not doing things
right and you are not getting
the outcome you think you
deserve. You have to understand why
you do it.
“So, after the loss against City
probably I was at the lowest. And
then you start to try to analyse things,
you hear different opinions — media,
what you think, criticism — and then
probably you go even further. And
then starts the importance of having
the family I have, the wife and kids I
have, the parents and the friends I
have. In difficult moments they show
Topsy-turvy
Tottenham
Tottenham’s 3-0 defeat to Crystal
Palace marked the first time since at
least the late 1970s that a club from
the present-day “big six” had lost in
the top flight by a three-goal margin
to non-big-six opponents having
been level with 15 minutes
remaining (records of goal times
are not comprehensive before
then). Saturday was the first day
since April 2014 on which the
leaders (Tottenham) lost without
scoring and the bottom club
(Arsenal) won without conceding.
Palace’s Conor Gallagher added an
assist against Tottenham to his two
their commitment in your
relationship with them. After that it is
every person that works in this club,
from top to bottom, the energy they
try to provide, the communication
they have with me and the other
people who make the big
decisions, and how
encouraging it is to see
them with the hunger to
change the situation.
“They don’t find
any excuses. Don’t
blame anyone. Just
try to look for
solutions. And
then you get
the players with
even more energy
— then it is
overwhelming.”
The 39-year-old
anticipated being the fall guy
but instead discovered that a
willingness to wriggle free of
the dysfunction had somehow
permeated the club. Arteta
sounded humbled by the backing
he was given and in speaking
frankly about what he
was going through
during the
international break
1GG Monday September 13 2021 | the times
TURNSTILE TALE
If the 20 Premier League clubs each
maintain their average attendance so
far this season for the rest of the
campaign then the top-flight record for
largest crowds will be broken.
Average attendance in top division
Highest in full season 1948-49
Highest in part-season 2019-20 (Covid-hit)*
38,776
39,348
This season
39,393
*Excluding matches played behind closed doors
Romelu
Lukaku scored
his first goal at
Stamford
Bridge ten
years after his
Chelsea debut
goals against West Ham United King Edouard
in the previous game: a player
born in Epsom clearly thrives in a There was a first appearance for
derby. Tottenham Hotspur by Royal at
Palace (Emerson Royal away to
700 up Crystal Palace) on Saturday but the
debut king was Edouard. The Palace
Dean Lewington, of Milton Keynes forward, Odsonne Edouard, became
Dons, became only the fifth player the first player in the Premier
to reach 700 league appearances for League era to score twice in the first
one club: the others are John ten minutes of his top-division
Trollope (770 for Swindon Town), debut. Edouard scored 18 seconds
Jimmy Dickinson (764 for after the restart following his late
Portsmouth), Roy Sproson (760 for arrival as a substitute: in contrast
Port Vale) and Terry Paine (713 for the Manchester United striker
Southampton). Sheffield United Diego Forlan took just over 50,000
scored as many goals on Saturday seconds, over 27 appearances, to
as they had in their previous 20 score his first goal for the club.
league games (six against Edouard is the first player with OE
Peterborough United). initials to score in top-flight history.
will have endeared himself to the that emanates from Tomiyasu and it
most cynical of fans.
Oddly, it felt as if the fans already
felt as if the former Bologna defender
simply had no idea at all of the crisis
knew all this, as the mood was that had engulfed his new side as he
sunnier than it had any right to be at bounded about with such positive
the Emirates. This was, though, energy that it was bound to rub off on
probably a coincidence. The weather his team-mates.
was glorious, Tottenham Hotspur had “Tomi only trained a day and a
just been defeated in the early game half,” Arteta explained. “He looked
and five new Arsenal signings – Ben really comfortable out there, but that
White, Sambi Lokonga, Martin is because everybody has been
Odegaard, Aaron Ramsdale and looking after him in the last two days
Takehiro Tomiyasu all looked to make him feel good, to take any
promising. pressure off him so he can try to
Tomiyasu in particular made a enjoy playing.”
connection with those in the Daniel Farke made a joke about
stands. The 22-year-old Japan synchronised swimming, not football,
defender, who joined Arsenal for being the place for points for artistic
an initial £17 million on merit but it served to conjure up an
deadline day, was image of a troop of yellow-shirted
composed and dancers slowly sinking from sight.
adventurous and struck up an The Norwich manager needs to
immediate rapport with quickly arrest his team’s decline
White, whom Arsenal signed before defeats become their new
from Brighton & Hove normal.
Albion for £50 million “Normally the easiest thing to do is
earlier in the summer. blame the players,” Arteta said,
Indeed, Arteta spoke of unwittingly offering Farke some
the “joy and happiness” advice.
“And then you try to overcoach
Tomiyasu gave them. I was not willing to do that
Arteta, inset, plenty because first of all they don’t deserve
to enthuse about that.”
the times | Monday September 13 2021 1GG 11

thegame

‘Benítez wants me to get five goals –

then we’ll see what present he gets me’ ANTHONY MCARDLE

Abdoulaye Doucouré wants to

finally earn a France call-up
under seventh club manager
in five years, says Paul Joyce
At the end of Abdoulaye Doucouré’s first
training session, Rafa Benítez sidled up to the
midfielder and, after swapping pleasantries, got
down to business.
Everton’s new manager had spent hours
analysing clips of every player he had inherited,
studying the systems the team had played the
previous season and turning his thoughts to
what his own blueprint would be.
And so Benítez and Doucouré stood together
in the middle of one of the pitches at the club’s
Finch Farm training centre and talked . . . for
almost 30 minutes. Benitez pointed out which
aspects of the Frenchman’s displays had caught
his eye and Doucouré responded by saying how
he could give more to the cause. As
introductions go, it was forensic and fulfilling.
“He was explaining how he wants me to play,
what good things I do, where I can improve as
well,” says Doucouré, who arrived from Watford
last September. “We talked about scoring more
goals, going forward, playing very simple when I
regain the ball and how to use my technical
abilities to improve the team. He wants me to be
a leader as well.
“It is something that is in his management.
He likes to take players individually after
training and talk with them.
“I never sit and think to myself, ‘you are done,
you are here at a good club in the Premier
League, everything is finished.’ So I said, ‘I want
you to help me to reach my best level.’
“The manager is happy when you
do good things, but he will always see
something that you can improve. I
like that. It is perfect for me. Since
the beginning I have felt his
confidence and I just want to give DELPH GETS MANAGER’S BACKING AFTER INJURY MEANS ANOTHER LAY-OFF
D
back to him, to play my best football R
Rafa Benítez has number of setbacks to the player’s desire and will say his commitment
this year.” d
defended Fabian have affected the 31- attitude. in every training session
Validation of their discussion Delph’s commitment
D year-old since his move “I know people talk from day one was really
proved swift. The appointment of the a
after it emerged that from Manchester City in about him not doing good. He was really
former Liverpool manager to shape the
th Everton midfielder July 2019. The England well, or having injuries, positive. He was
Everton’s fortunes demanded a strong is facing another midfielder has made and I had the working hard and I was
start to the season to soothe the lengthy
le injury only nine Premier impression when I came pleased to give him a
scepticism. Southampton led 1-0 at absence.
a League appearances for that he was not a player chance. The injury was
half-time on the opening day and with Delph could be out Everton since February who played much bad luck in the training
15 minutes remaining it was 1-1. for
fo up to six weeks 2020 but Benítez said because of injuries,” the session. He was feeling
Everton needed someone to land the after
a dislocating his that his initial Everton manager said. well and I thought he
decisive blow. Step forward Doucouré. shoulder
s in training, impression of Delph had “But I have no doubt could give us
The 28-year-old watches a replay of the
th latest in a been confounded by about his quality and I experience.”
his goal, offering a mini-commentary of
a move that involved Séamus Coleman
and Alex Iwobi, all the way through to different.
d I need to defend and regain the It is an itch he is determined to scratch. “Of
his decision to whip off his shirt and ball but, after that, I can support the strikers.” course you have a lot of competition, but when I
celebrate among the home fans at Goodison on D
Doucouré’s cousin, Ladji, a world champion Doucouré’s natural athleticism is remarkable see the last call-up of the players I don’t see
Park. Those fans celebrated again when hurdler, gave him tips on staying in top shape given that he suffered two ACL knee injuries by myself behind,” he said. “Paul Pogba, [N’Golo]
Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s late goal made it 3-1. the age of 20. During his rehabilitation he Kanté, they are leaders of the team, but I still
Not everything turned out as Doucouré Quique Sánchez Flores and Nigel Pearson — turned to his cousin, Ladji Doucouré, a gold think that one day I can have my chance.
planned, he confessed. “My first idea was to and now two in 12 months since his £20 million medallist for France in the 110m hurdles and “If I were an English player, I would maybe
control the ball with my right foot and shoot move to Everton, with Benítez following Carlo 4x100m relay at the 2005 Athletics World have the call for the national team. In France, I
with my left. But the ball touched my left leg so Ancelotti this summer. Championships, on how to take better care of am not very famous. The idea of myself is
I just turned around, took one more touch and Doucouré has sought to embrace the positives maybe a bit lower than here so maybe this plays
when I saw a small angle I thought I just need of that rapid turnover and learn from everyone ‘If I were English I’d against me. But I know the manager [Didier
to make a big shot. he has played under, but concedes “it was not Deschamps] sees me because he sees Lucas
“The manager has said he wants me to score very stable for me”. maybe get the call for the [Digne] in an Everton shirt so, for sure, he sees
at least five goals. It is a little target and I know I He is hoping that under Benítez he will my games. Now I just need to be patient and
can reach that. Then we are going to see what flourish in his favourite role as a box-to-box national team. In France I work hard.”
he is going to give to me, like a present. midfielder, having sacrificed himself for the am not very famous’ Helping Everton to maintain their
“I watched it a lot at the beginning. But then I team under Ancelotti, who restricted his momentum will help. Results dipped in the
say, ‘It is one goal, one game.’ Move forward. I running by deploying him deeper. Tonight’s his body. He still practises some of the pre- second-half of last season when Doucouré was
want to watch the next goal. I hope that by the game against Burnley at Goodison offers him activation and recovery routines given him. sidelined for nine weeks with a broken foot.
end of the season I have a compilation of my another opportunity to impress. There remains one obstacle, in particular, that Whether in or out of the team, his impact is felt.
goals to watch during my holidays.” “The roles are very different,” he said. “Last Doucouré has yet to overcome. His dream had “Last season, some games we didn’t start well
Adapting on the spot has become a theme for year, I was very defensive because we played been to go to Clairefontaine, the French football and it felt like, ‘We are going to lose,’ ” he says.
Doucouré. He has seen a constant churn of with James [Rodríguez] on the right and we academy, but he failed to earn a place after a “This year it has not felt like that. We don’t want
managers since he arrived in English football know he defends a little bit less than the other trial when he was 14. He gained recognition at to make the same mistakes as last year.”
from Rennes five years ago. players because of his ability and everything. youth level with France and there was one
Five permanent appointments at Watford — “My first thought was to protect the team and Under-21 cap, but graduation to the seniors KICK OFF: 8pm, SKY SPORTS PREMIER
Walter Mazzarri, Marco Silva, Javi Gracia, cover the right side. Of course, this is completely remains elusive. LEAGUE FROM 7pm
12 1GG Monday September 13 2021 | the times

thegame
ALESSANDRO SABATTINI/GETTY IMAGES

‘Football is art
“They can get through difficulties
with belief and hard work. I’m an
example of that, I have often had to
deal with adversity but I always made
it through.
“In the 1994 World Cup when I was

but for Italians

injured [in the group stage], had
[meniscus] surgery, I managed to still
play [in the final]. That’s the type of
adversity I had to overcome.” A
miracle? “Yes. I only start to realise
now what I did.”

there is also art

Baresi also wants to show another
side to Milan, a club rooted in their
community. When Covid began
wreaking havoc in Europe in March
2020, northern Italy was one of the
first and worst hit regions. The club

in defending’
Franco Baresi talks to
Henry Winter about
Milan’s return to the
grand stage at Anfield
Liverpool renew an old acquaintance
with AC Milan in the Champions
League on Wednesday and everyone
involved will think of the 2005 and
2007 finals. “I think of both but in
different ways,” says a laughing
Franco Baresi.
Embedded in Milan for 49 years,
Baresi, now the club’s honorary vice-
president, remembers Liverpool’s
astonishing comeback in Istanbul and
then Milan’s revenge two years later
in Athens. Liverpool feature large in
his club’s thoughts.
“We can’t wait to play against them
in their beautiful stadium that is
Anfield and before their fans,” Baresi
says. “We are impatient to play there.”
That impatience is deepened
because Baresi’s club, seven times
champions of European, have been
out of the continent’s elite
competition for seven years. “We’re
super happy to be back in the
Champions League,” he says. ys
“It’s exhilarating to be in this
important group [also with th
Atletico Madrid and Porto]. to].
We’re excited to play these se
teams, and first up is
Liverpool.”
Talking via Zoom from m difference in the way Italy
Milan, Baresi looks and
sounds like he still wants
to play. Even though he
retired in October 1997,
20 years after his debut foror
the club, Baresi remains in
love with the sport, AC Milan
and San Siro. “It’s always
emotional whenever I walk alk into
San Siro,” he says. “I still love
football. I love watching games at the
Tomori‘s concentration and
pace has impressed Baresi
stadium. I’d love to get down to the
pitch and play. But it is not possible,
unfortunately.”
Now 61, Baresi played 719 times for
Milan, winning the European Cup/
Champions League three times and
the Italian title six times. Milan even
retired his No 6 shirt, another story
richly recalled in his new book, Libero
di Sognare. It translates as “Free to
dream” but defending is never far
away in a conversation with Baresi.
So what of England’s Fikayo
Tomori at the heart of Milan’s
defence? “Tomori has real quality,”
Baresi says. “He’s really good at
imposing himself, showing his
aggression and his anticipation and
concentration. He’s also very quick
which is really important when
recovering a ball.”
Anglo-Italian respect and rivalry is
particularly strong this year. Baresi
was delighted when Italy won the
Euros in July. He laughs at an
outsider’s bemusement at the
apparent contradiction that a country
that embraces such flamboyant art
and architecture should revere the
“destroyers”, the likes of Giorgio
Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci, who
broke England’s hearts at Wembley.
“Football is art,” Baresi says with a
smile. “But for Italy there is an art in
defending. Defending has always been
Italian football culture. Our
part off Itali
history says Italy is usually better
at defending than attacking.
But
B during the Euros I
noticed
n this jump, this
were playing, a different
quality. So even though
w were still good at
we
defensive
defensi football, with the older
defenders
defend like Bonucci and
Chiellini,
Chiell we were also helped by
quality of the younger
the qu
players, who were able to offer
playe
more offensively, especially with
ttheir
heir technical
t quality. We were
able to put the opposing team in
more danger.
“Football’s evolving, Italian
“Fo
ffootball
foootball culture’s
c evolved, and Italy
Baresi, now 61, right, is relishing his country’s footballing
“evolution” having been one of their most celebrated stars
has been able to change and keep
pace, and we saw that during the
Euros with the national team. It
surprised Italian people and everyone
in Europe also.”
Baresi was a professor in the art of
stopping an opponent, sticking tight,
nicking the ball, leaning into them,
nudging them off balance, but he
could play as well, controlling the ball
elegantly and guiding it upfield. So
did he prefer destroying or creating?
“I liked both,” he says. “I liked being
‘concrete’ and solid on the pitch and I
also liked my technical quality. But I
knew how important defending was,
and whenever I played against a great
player that would stimulate me to
play even better.”
Some of his most epic duels were
with Diego Maradona, when he was
leading Napoli and Baresi captained
Milan in the late 1980s. When the
great Argentinian died last year,
Baresi posted a simple
but powerful elegy. “My
heart cries,” Baresi wrote. He
had so much respect for Napoli and
Argentina’s No 10. “Maradona was
one of these great champions, a
player of great quality, so difficult to
play against,” Baresi recalls.
“Whenever I played against
Maradona I knew I had to be very
careful. He was so good it was really
hard to stop him by myself, I needed
the help of my team. It was more a
matter of teamwork to cope with
Maradona.”
Maradona is covered in Libero di
Sognare, a book that Baresi has
specific reasons for writing. “I wanted
to change the world,” he says.
“Changing the world is, of course,
impossible. I like to think the book
will help people, especially the
younger generation, to show that
anything is possible.
swung into action, Baresi helping out.
“I am particularly proud of the work
Fondazione Milan did to help people
in need,” Baresi says. That care was
nothing new. “Fondazione Milan was
founded in 2003 and has always been
active in protecting the community. I
think of AC Milan as a family. It is
not just about the club’s great history,
to me it is very personal and special.”
He played under two of the grand
masters of Italian coaching, Arrigo
Sacchi and Fabio Capello. “Without
me, these coaches wouldn’t have won
anything in their career at AC Milan.”
Baresi says. “No, joking aside, Sacchi
and Capello were great coaches,
fundamental for the team, so even if
we had great players we still needed
great coaches to guide us. They were
able to share their personality and
coaching with us players.”
The fans still revere his name, and
wave a huge flag with his face and
No 6 emblazoned on it. “It is
wonderful to see that flag,” Baresi
says. “It’s special. It’s great to see
this affection from the fans.
The fans have been so good
to me for so many years.
It means I’ve done
something good
eventually in my career.
People don’t forget.
They have an emotional
attachment with those
who’ve given 100 per cent
for the club. They will
always have a special passion
for these players. It’s definitely
harder to see one player staying his
whole career at one club for 15-20
years but that’s because football’s
changed.”
Indeed. Milan [and Inter] are
preparing to build a 60,000 new San
Siro. Saying goodbye to the familiar,
striking old home will bring a tear to
many an eye.
“It will be emotional,” Baresi adds.
“We’re still waiting on the green light
from the municipality of Milan. We’re
not quite there yet. The hope is to
have a new and modern stadium for
all AC Milan fans.” And that No 6 flag
will continue to wave.
6 Libero di Sognare by Franco Baresi
(Feltrinelli publishing) is out on Sept 30.
Visit www.fondazionemilan.org
KICK-OFF: 8PM,
LIVE ON BT SPORT 2 FROM 7PM

CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND-UP LEAGUE ONE ROUND-UP LEAGUE TWO ROUND-UP

Performance of the week The
former Everton youngster
Josh Bowler scored a smart
goal to inflict a first defeat of
the season on Fulham and
help Blackpool to a first win.
Player of the week John Swift,
the Reading midfielder, has six
goals in six games this season
after his first hat-trick, bagged
in 42 minutes in the 3-3 draw
with QPR.
Quote of the week “I said to
him in the dressing room: ‘Sol I
thought you were wonderful
today son’. I didn’t pick him on
sympathy, I picked him on
ability, what he’s been through.
He deserved to be on the
winning side.” Middlesbrough
manager Neil Warnock on
defender Sol Bamba, 36, who
played in the 2-0 defeat at
Coventry — his first start in
20 months after a successful
battle against cancer. Bamba
played after Paddy McNair was
injured in the warm-up.
Rising starJordan Zemura, 21,
the London-born Zimbabwe
midfielder, scored his first two
goals as Bournemouth beat
Barnsley 3-0.
Performance of the week
Bolton Wanderers responded
to Monday’s scoreless draw
with Burton Albion by winning
5-2 at Ipswich Town with goals
from Dapo Afolayan (2), Josh
Sheehan, George Johnston
and an Eoin Doyle penalty.
Player of the week Anthony
Scully was the key figure in
Lincoln City’s 5-1 win at
Cambridge United, with two
goals and three assists.
Rising star Ayoub Assal, the
19-year-old Wimbledon
forward, hit a superb volley
from the edge of the penalty
area in the fourth minute of
stoppage time to secure a 4-3
win at Morecambe.
Quote of the week “I’m here
fighting for my life and you get
officials that cannot see the
most blatant offside. I feel like
I’ve run over another black
cat. I’ll get fined if I go over the
top when I’m talking to the
officials but they won’t get
fined for their performance.”
Richie Wellens, the Doncaster
Rovers manager, was unhappy
with Wigan Athletic’s winning
goal in their 2-1 win.
Performance of the week
Sutton United registered their
first ever Football League win
when Richie Bennett scored
twice to overturn Elliot List’s
opening goal and secure a 2-1
victory over Stevenage.
Player of the week Ben
Garrity, the Port Vale
midfielder, scored twice as
Port Vale claimed a second
successive away win, 2-1 at
Swindon Town.
Rising star George Miller, 23,
was praised by Matt Taylor, the
Walsall manager, after the on-
loan Barnsley forward scored
twice in his side’s 3-1 defeat of
Mansfield Town.
Quote of the week “I’ve had
23 years in non-League so to
play in the Football League is a
dream come true. I never
thought I would achieve this. I
get around like I used to but I
can still hold it up for ten or
15 minutes and that’s what
they want me to do.” Craig
Dundas, 40, who made his first
appearance in senior football
as a substitute in Sutton
United’s landmark 2-1 win
over Stevenage.
the times | Monday September 13 2021
Terry waits in wings for Forest job
Nottm Forest Cardiff
1
Grabban 23
2
Colwill 58, 73
RATINGS
Nottingham Forest (4-4-1): B Samba 6 —
D Spence 6, J Worrall 6, S McKenna 6, M Lowe 6
— P Zinckernagel 5 (J Lolley 67min, 5) J Garner
6, R Yates 6, B Johnson 5 (A Mighty 81) —
L Grabban 7 — L Taylor 5.
Cardiff City (5-4-1): D Phillips 6 — P Ng 6,
S Morrison 6, A Flint 6, C Nelson 6 — J Bagan 7,
S Bowen 6 (R Colwill 57, 9), M Pack 7, W Vaulks 8,
M Harris 6 (K Evans 87) — J Collins 6 (K Moore
57, 8). Booked Ng, Pack, Vaulks.
Referee D Whitestone. Attendance 24,153.
GRAHAM HILL
Chris Hughton, the Nottingham
Forest manager, insists that it his
responsibility to turn his team’s form
Spurs’ contentious
winner fuels anger
about lack of VAR
Man City Tottenham
1
Hemp 6
2
Williams 61
Taieb 86 (og)
RATINGS
Man City (4-3-3): K Taieb 5 — E Morgan
(F Angeldal 15min, 6), S Houghton 6, A Kennedy
5 (K Shaw 73), A Greenwood 7 — V Losada 6,
L Coombs 6, G Stanway 6 — J Beckie 7 (J Park
62, 6), E White 6, L Hemp 8. Booked Morgan.
Tottenham (4-4-2): B Spencer 9 — A Ale 6,
M Bartrip 7, S Zadorsky 7 (K Harrop 90+5),
A Neville 6 — R Percival 6, M Clemaron 7, J Green
6 (C Ubogagu 46, 8), J Naz 7 (A Addison 82) —
K Simon 7 (K Graham 61, 7), R Williams 9
(R Ayane 81). Booked Neville.
Referee A Byrne.
Attendance 1,126.
TOMÁS HILL LOPEZ-MENCHERO
The lack of VAR in the Women’s
Super League is back under the
spotlight after Tottenham Hotspur’s
controversial late winner against
Manchester City was allowed to stand
despite what appeared to be a clear
handball.
Gareth Taylor, the City manager,
was left fuming by the award of the
goal — a week after Emma Hayes, his
Chelsea counterpart, described WSL
players as being treated like “second-
class citizens” owing to the lack of
video referees in the league.
The Spurs striker Rosella Ayane
appeared to have handled the ball in
the build-up to the City goalkeeper
Karima Taieb’s 86th-minute own goal.
But the goal stood and Taylor’s side
were beaten 2-1 at the Academy
Stadium — their first home defeat in
the WSL since April 2018.
City looked set to put their
midweek Champions League exit
against Real Madrid behind them
when Lauren Hemp’s early header
gave them the lead. But they spurned
a number of chances and Rachel
Williams, Tottenham’s veteran striker,
2GG
around after the club’s worst start to a
season in 108 years.
Hughton’s future at the City
Ground remains in the balance after
the fifth defeat of a season that has
yet to produce a victory; it leaves
Forest bottom of the table.
The latest blow for Hughton was
delivered by 19-year-old substitute
Rubin Colwill’s first senior goals after
Lewis Grabban, the Forest captain,
had opened the scoring in the first
half. Colwill, who has been with
Cardiff since the age of eight, scored
53 seconds after coming on and
netted a second with a precise finish.
Chris Wilder, the former Sheffield
United manager, and John Terry, the
former Chelsea and England central
defender, who is searching for a route
into management after leaving Aston
Villa’s coaching staff before the start
of the season, have both been
mentioned as potential successors
should Hughton, 62, depart.
made them pay with her 61st-minute
goal, before the late drama ensued.
Rehanne Skinner’s team held on for a
huge upset after more than nine
minutes of stoppage time.
“It’s pretty incredible that we’ve not
had that [goal] chalked off in that
situation,” Taylor said. “But I still
believe the game was in our hands.
We should have been out of sight by
the time it gets to that and then it’s
really a bit of a consolation for them.
“It’s something we don’t want to
happen. We’ve got to improve the
standards across the board and there
were a few dodgy, or iffy, decisions
tonight and that was one of them.
“If the officials were to see that
back, I’m pretty certain they would
say that goal should never stand. I
don’t even think it was one hand, it
was literally two hands the player’s
gone in with. It completely puts Steph
[Houghton] off clearing the ball.”
Despite the fortunate nature of the
winner, this was a monumental win
for Skinner’s side. They could not
reasonably have expected to get
anything out of the game when they
went behind to Hemp’s goal in the
sixth minute, a free header from Alex
Greenwood’s pinpoint corner.
But City’s profligate finishing and
an inspired performance from Becky
Spencer, the Spurs goalkeeper, kept
the away side alive. When Williams
got on the end of a low cross from
Chioma Ubogagu, Taylor’s team were
stunned. Spurs should have gone
ahead three minutes later, when
Jessica Naz went through on goal
only to skew her shot wide.
In the event, the game was decided
in far more dubious manner. “I
thought we’d made an opportunity, so
we’ve created a crossing situation and
from that we’ve managed to take a
chance against a team that’s very
tough to break down,” Skinner said.
“We’ve created several chances in
that phase of the game, so I thought
we earned it. From what I’ve
seen . . . it’s a cross and it looked like
Ros tried to head it, and then it’s
dropped to us and we’ve had a shot.”
Evangelos Marinakis, the Forest
chairman, is not known for his
patience and sacked the previous
manager, Sabri Lamouchi, just
under a year ago.
Now Wednesday’s home
match in the Sky Bet
Championship with
Middlesbrough takes
on added significance
for Hughton, the
former Norwich City,
Newcastle United
and Brighton &
Hove Albion
manager, who
arrived at the club
in October of last
year.
“I have to be confident
Time is running out
for Hughton after
Forest’s poor start
continued yesterday
Williams earns
hugs after she
draws Spurs
level before
the “handball”
incident, inset
Chelsea hit four and Miedema shines again
TOMÁS HILL LOPEZ-MENCHERO
Chelsea bounced back from their
opening-day defeat by Arsenal with a
resounding 4-0 win over an Everton
outfit who look short on confidence.
In the battle between the title
holders and top-three pretenders, the
champions won out. Emma Hayes
had made only two summer signings
in contrast to her opposite number
Willie Kirk’s nine, but it was two
established stars who made the
difference. Returning to the starting
XI after extended breaks following
the Tokyo Olympics, Fran Kirby and
Sam Kerr combined brilliantly in a
fluid Chelsea frontline that Everton’s
back three could not live with.
Kirby put Chelsea ahead in the
25th minute, curling a deflected shot
inside Sandy MacIver’s far post.
that I can turn this around, it’s
my responsibility to get results
for this club and bring our new
signings up to speed,” he said.
“It’s small margins, we’re only
losing games by one goal.”
When asked if it was
disruptive when other
names were being
linked with his job,
Hughton added:
“First and foremost,
anything you’re
telling me is news
to me. The only
thing I do is
concentrate on
the job.
“It’s been a very
difficult summer.
With the
recruitment
process we have,
it’s been difficult
not being able to
‘Unacceptable’ tweet deleted
Everton women’s sporting and
commercial director Sarvar Ismailov
tweeted the word “Unacceptable”
following their hammering by Chelsea.
The tweet was later deleted, but the
signs are not good for manager Willie
Kirk after two consecutive 4-0 defeats
Kirk’s side had only themselves to
blame for Chelsea’s second goal.
Megan Finnigan and MacIver were
exchanging passes in the 47th minute
13
thegame
work with some of those players
earlier in the pre-season.
“It was a hugely disappointing
result. I’m as disappointed as
anybody. I’m only thinking about how
we get a result on Wednesday night,
because this club deserves it, the
supporters deserve it — but we have
to go out and prove it.”
Cardiff have scored all of their
goals in the second half of this
season’s games so it was no surprise
that they maintained their sequence.
In a weekend where sporting
teenagers have made the news,
Colwill decided to make some
headlines of his own, adding that
Emma Raducanu’s run to the US
Open women’s tennis title gave him
inspiration. “When you see other
people who are young doing well in
other sports, it inspires you to try and
do things, especially if you are in a
similar situation,” he said. “I’m into
my tennis, but didn’t see it last night.”
GETTY IMAGES
when the former played the ball
straight into the path of Kerr and the
Australian slotted into an empty net.
Any hopes of an Everton revival
were extinguished in the 74th minute,
when Guro Reiten made headway
down the left and her inch-perfect
cross was headed home by Kerr. The
rout was completed five minutes later,
when Erin Cuthbert hit the bar with a
venomous shot which presented the
substitute Beth England with a tap-in.
Elsewhere, Vivianne Miedema kept
up her scoring form with two goals in
Arsenal’s 4-0 win against Reading to
continue her side’s fine start to life
under new manager Jonas Eidevall.
Brighton & Hove Albion are top of
the table two games into the season
after hammering Birmingham City
5-0. Manchester United also boast
two wins from two, after a 3-1 victory
away to Leicester City.
14 1GG Monday September 13 2021 | the times

THE
JOURNEYMAN Premier League
Home Away
P W D L F A W D L F A GD Pts
Gregor Robertson Y 1 Manchester United..............................4 2 0 0 9 2 1 1 0 2 1 8 10
Y 2 Chelsea.....................................................4 2 0 0 6 0 1 1 0 3 1 8 10
visits ??????????????? Y 3 Liverpool..................................................4 1 1 0 3 1 2 0 0 6 0 8 10
Gregor Robertson visits Oldham Y 4 Manchester City....................................4 2 0 0 10 0 1 0 1 1 1 10 9
Y 5 Brighton & Hove Albion.....................4 1 0 1 2 2 2 0 0 3 1 2 9
Z 6 Tottenham Hotspur.............................4 2 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 1 3 0 9

Fan unity small comfort Z

Z
7
8
West Ham United..................................4
Everton.....................................................3
1
1
1
0
0
0
6
3
3
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
4
4
2
2
5
4
8
7

for plummeting Oldham Y

W
W
9
10
11
Leicester City.........................................4
Brentford.................................................4
Crystal Palace........................................4
1
1
1
0
0
1
1
1
0
1
2
3
1
1
0
1
0
0
0
2
1
1
0
1
3
1
2
5
1
5
-2

0
1
6
5
5
Z 12 Aston Villa...............................................4 1 1 0 3 1 0 0 2 2 6 -2 4
Perhaps if there was a scrap of
Y 13 Wolverhampton Wanderers.............4 0 0 2 0 2 1 0 1 2 1 -1 3
solace for Oldham Athletic fans at
the end of another week of Z 14 Southampton.........................................4 0 2 0 1 1 0 1 1 3 5 -2 3
rancour and protest, culminating Z 15 Watford....................................................4 1 0 1 3 4 0 0 2 0 3 -4 3
in a 4-0 defeat by Leyton Orient Y 16 Arsenal.....................................................4 1 0 1 1 2 0 0 2 0 7 -8 3
that leaves the Premier League
Z 17 Leeds United..........................................4 0 1 1 2 5 0 1 1 2 6 -7 2
founder members at the foot of
the League Two table, it was to be Z 18 Burnley.....................................................3 0 1 1 2 3 0 0 1 0 2 -3 1
found in the wave of solidarity Z 19 Newcastle United.................................4 0 1 1 4 6 0 0 2 1 6 -7 1
that rippled around Brisbane Road Z 20 NorwichCity............................................4 0 0 2 1 5 0 0 2 0 6 -10 0
on Saturday.
“We want Abdallah out,” the RESULTS TOP SCORERS
Oldham faithful chorused during 4 Antonio (West Ham)
TV AND RADIO
another humbling defeat, as pleas Arsenal 1 Norwich City 0 4 Fernandes (Man Utd) HIGHLIGHTS
Aubameyang 66 3 Calvert-Lewin (Everton)
for the much-maligned owner, 3 Greenwood (Man Utd)
Abdallah Lemsagam, to sell the Brentford 0 Brighton 1 TOMORROW
16,518 Trossard 90 3 Lukaku (Chelsea)
club grow ever-louder. And even 3 Salah (Liverpool) Champions League: Group H,
as the third and fourth goals flew Chelsea 3 Aston Villa 0 TOP ASSISTS Chelsea v Zenit St Petersburg.
Lukaku 15, 90+3 39,969
in, there were Orient’s supporters, Kovacic 49 7 Pogba (Man Utd) 8pm. BT Sport 2, BBC Radio 5 Live
having walked in their rival’s shoes Crystal Palace 3 Tottenham 0 3 Antonio (West Ham) The European Champions begin
3 Jesus (Man City)
not long ago, clapping to the beat, Oldham fans have planned further Zaha 76 (pen)
2 Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
the defence of their title at
lending their dissenting voices. protests to force their owner out Édouard 84, 90+3 Stamford Bridge.
Sent off: J Tanganga (Tottenham) 58 2 Benrahma (West Ham)
Without wishing to sound over- Leeds United 0 Liverpool 3
2 Groß (Brighton)
sentimental, it was moving and managers. Gates have dropped by 36,507 Salah 20, Fabinho 50 TOP SAVES WEDNESDAY
not what one has come to expect about 20 per cent in the past four Mané 90+2 16 Mendy (Chelsea) Champions League: Group B,
in the partisan world of football. If seasons and many refuse to pay a Sent off: P Struijk (Leeds) 60 16 Meslier (Leeds) Liverpool v AC Milan. 8pm.
Leicester City 0 Manchester City 1 16 Schmeichel (Leicester)
only the same could be said about penny more until Lemsagam goes. 32,087 B Silva 62 13 Sá (Wolves)
BT Sport 2, BBC Radio 5 Live
the prevalence of incompetent His plan, many believe, was to 13 Lloris (Tottenham) Two of the great European side’s
Manchester United 4 Newcastle United 1
and, at times, downright spiteful utilise contacts and scouting Ronaldo 45+2, 62 Manquillo 56
12 Alisson (Liverpool) get their campaigns under way at
owners in English football. networks in Europe, bring players Fernandes 80 72,732 Anfield, in a repeat of the 2005 and
Lemsagam is putting forward a to the UK, fuel Oldham’s rise and Lingard 90+2 2007 Champions League finals.

compelling case to be described as
both. Last week, in an attempt to
quell opposing voices, Oldham
suspended ticket sales for the
Orient game unless they were
purchased in person by a current
season ticket holder at the ticket
office — a move that was swiftly
sidestepped by Orient, who
offered an option for away fans to
pay on the day.
Oldham fans invaded the pitch
at Boundary Park in the 3-0
defeat by Barrow last weekend, for
the fifth home game in succession,
with tennis balls, a flare and
whistles disrupting play.
Lemsagam has also suspended
ticket sales for the visit of
Hartlepool this Saturday, when
further protests are planned, and
the sale of new season tickets.
This move is all the more
dumbfounding in light of the
financial turmoil that has plagued
Oldham since Lemsagam, a one-
time football agent of Moroccan
descent, officially bought the club
in January 2018. Since then, late
wages, winding-up petitions and
the threat of administration,
which was staved off in June of
last year, have become frequent.
After their glory years under
Joe Royle in the 90s, Oldham had
spent 20 consecutive seasons in
the third tier until Lemsagam
arrived, spent wildly on largely
foreign recruits while outlining a
vision to reach the Championship,
before steering the club into the
EFL’s basement division. Finishes
of 14th, 19th and 18th followed.
Keith Curle is the eighth manager
appointed in that time.
Disputes with senior players —
Craig Davies, Anthony Gerrard
and David Wheater to name but
three — are commonplace. The
turnover of staff has not been
restricted to players and
sell one or two for a tidy profit.
Easier in theory. As Steve
Shipman of Push The Boundary, a
fan action group, says: “We’ve had
over 100 players, and he’s sold one
for a profit — George Edmundson
to Rangers, and he was a product
of the youth system.
“A lot of the players he’s
brought in have been completely
sub-standard. Most were brought
in from abroad: French, Belgian
lower league players. And in a
post-Brexit world, he’s going to
struggle to get work permits,
which kiboshes that plan really.”
So what happens next? For now
Curle, who replaced Harry Kewell
in March, labours on with one of
the lowest budgets in League Two
and a team that look destined for
relegation. “I know where we’re
at,” the former Northampton boss
said. “We’ve got seven subs; five of
them are youth team players, 17, 18
years old — and one of them is
injured and can’t come on. Some
people would walk away. People
have walked away, for different
reasons. Staff-wise, we’re down to
the bare bones. But I’m staying,
I’m fighting.”
Oldham, then, are the latest
advertisement for independent
regulation in English football.
Lemsagam, meanwhile, met with
supporters groups via Zoom
recently, appeared on talkSPORT
radio last week, released a lengthy
statement admitting to “many
mistakes”, but all the while
underlined his intention to stay
and “make the club successful.”
To a growing number of fans,
though, the relationship is beyond
repair. “You just hope it doesn’t
get too bad before it gets better,”
Shipman says. “Going out of the
Football League would be a
complete disaster. We can’t sit
around and do nothing.”
4
Southampton 0 West Ham United 0
Sent off: M Antonio (West Ham) 90+5 SUNDAY
Watford 0 Wolves 2 Premier League: West Ham United
20,019 Sierralta 74 (og)
Hwang 83 v Manchester United. 2pm. Sky
Sports Main Event
Manchester United look to
maintain their unbeaten start
against a West Ham side who will
be without Michail Antonio.
Non-League, Scotland, women and Europe
Vanarama National League Solihull Moors............4 1 2 1 8 8 0 5 Hampton & R..............6 2 2 2 12 6 6 8
Aldershot 1 Solihull Moors 2 Southend......................5 1 2 2 4 6 -2 5 Chippenham Town...5 2 2 1 6 5 1 8
Wealdstone.................5 1 2 2 4 6 -2 5 Dorking Wanderers.6 2 2 2 10 10 0 8
Phillips 26 Maynard 45
1,354 Sbarra 88
Stockport County......5 1 2 2 2 6 -4 5
Bromley........................4 1 1 2 9 9 0 4
Chelmsford City........6 2 2 2 8 8 0 8
St Albans City.............5 2 1 2 12 9 3 7
Barnet 1 Eastleigh 1 Kings Lynn Town......5 1 1 3 6 9 -3 4 Ebbsfleet United........5 2 1 2 9 7 2 7
Enigbokan-Bloomfield 24 House 71 Torquay........................5 1 1 3 7 14 -7 4
Eastleigh ...................... 4 0 2 2 4 9 -5 2
Braintree......................5 1 3 1 9 8 1 6
959 Hungerford Town.....4 2 0 2 8 8 0 6
Barnet............................5 0 2 3 5 13 -8 2 Eastbourne Boro.......6 1 3 2 12 16 -4 6
Bromley 2 Boreham Wood 3
Bingham 48 Boden 16, Rees 55
Aldershot.....................5 0 0 5 4 10 -6 0
*Dover Athletic..........4 0 1 3 2 6 -4 -11
Tonbridge Angels.....5 1 2 2 6 9 -3 5
Slough Town...............5 1 1 3 5 9 -4 4
Cheek 66 Marsh 90 * deducted 12pts for failure to fulfil four fixtures Welling..........................5 1 1 3 5 15 -10 4
Dover Athletic 0 Chesterfield 0 North Alfreton 3 AFC Telford 1; Blyth 2 Darlington 2; Billericay Town..........5 0 1 4 5 13 -8 1
Brackley 1 Southport 0; Bradford PA 0 AFC Fylde 2; Hemel Hempstead ... 6 0 1 5 5 19 -14 1
Halifax Town 3 Southend 1 Chorley 4 Chester 1; Gloucester 1 Curzon Ashton 2; Pitching In Northern Premier Ashton United 1
Slew 39, Waters 48 Murphy 88 Guiseley 0 Kettering 2; Kidderminster 2 Gateshead Buxton 1; Atherton Collieries 1 Grantham 0; Basford
Maher 73 1,959 3; Leamington 2 Boston 0; Spennymoor 6 Farsley 0.
P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Lancaster 0; FC United of Manchester 1 Stafford 3;
Hyde 1 South Shields 2; Matlock 2 Stalybridge 1;
Kings Lynn Town 1 Dag & Red 2
Reynolds 90+1 (og) Walker 46
AFC Fylde....................6 5 1 0 14 5 9 16 Mickleover 1 Whitby 2; Morpeth 1 Witton 2; Radcliffe
Brackley Town...........6 5 1 0 7 2 5 16
859 Weston 88 Curzon Ashton...........6 4 1 1 12 5 7 13
3 Nantwich 1; Scarborough 2 Bamber Bridge 4;
Warrington 1 Gainsborough 0.
Stockport 0 Yeovil 3 Spennymoor Town..6 4 0 2 15 8 7 12 Pitching In Southern Premier: Central Banbury 3
Kidderminster............6 3 2 1 11 6 5 11
5,231 Wakefield 26 Gateshead ...................6 3 2 1 13 10 3 11 Needham Market 3; Bromsgrove 1 Hitchin 0;
Quigley 53 (pen), Yussuf 86 Coalville 3 Stourbridge 0; Hednesford 1 Barwell 1;
Sent off: A Palmer (Stockport) 52
Kettering Town.........6 3 2 1 8 5 3 11
Lowestoft 2 Rushall 3; Nuneaton 0 AFC Rushden &
Chorley.........................5 3 0 2 14 5 9 9
Torquay United 1 Grimsby 3 Blyth Spartans ........... 6 2 3 1 7 6 1 9 Diamonds 1; Peterborough Sports 1 Leiston 2;
Redditch 1 Biggleswade 0; Royston 0 Alvechurch 0;
Little 11 Efete 24, Coke 33 Leamington.................5 3 0 2 7 7 0 9
York................................5 2 0 3 9 11 -2 6 St Ives Town 1 Tamworth 2. South Dorchester 2
2,364 Clifton 90+2 Walton 0; Farnborough 3 Taunton 2; Gosport 2 Yate
Alfreton Town............6 2 0 4 8 10 -2 6
Wealdstone 1 Altrincham 0 Boston United ............ 5 2 0 3 5 7 -2 6 1; Harrow 2 Weston-super-Mare 0; Hayes & Yeading
Elito 90+11 (pen) 1,013 Farsley Celtic..............6 1 3 2 7 14 -7 6 6 Hartley Wintney 1; Kings Langley 1 Salisbury 2;
Sent off: B Jackson (Altrincham) 90+8
Guiseley........................6 1 2 3 6 10 -4 5 Merthyr Town 0 Hendon 2; Metropolitan Police 1
Chester ........................6 1 2 3 8 15 -7 5 Poole 1; Tiverton 1 Swindon Supermarine 1; Truro 0
Weymouth 1 Notts County 1 AFC Telford United..4 1 1 2 4 5 -1 4 Beaconsfield 1; Wimborne 1 Chesham 2.
Robinson 69 Roberts 59 Bradford PA................5 1 1 3 4 7 -3 4 Pitching In Isthmian League Premier Bishop’s
1,783 Gloucester City..........6 1 1 4 8 17 -9 4 Stortford 1 Hornchurch 0; Bognor Regis 1 Carshalton
Southport .................... 6 0 3 3 9 12 -3 3 0; Bowers & Pitsea 3 Wingate & Finchley 1; Cheshunt
Wrexham 1 Woking 0
Davies 40 8,242
Hereford ......................5 0 2 3 2 8 -6 2 0 Merstham 1; Folkestone 2 Horsham 1; Haringey 0
Darlington...................4 0 1 3 6 9 -3 1 Corinthian-Casuals 1; Kingstonian 3 Brightlingsea 1;
Sent off: D Jones (Wrexham) 75 South Braintree 1 Bath 3; Chippenham 2 Chelmsford Lewes 4 Enfield Town 1; Margate 4 Leatherhead 2;
P W D L F A GD Pts 3; Dartford 1 Tonbridge 1; Dorking 2 Billericay 1; Worthing 3 East Thurrock 2.
Dulwich 3 Hungerford 1; Hampton & Richmond 3
Dag & Red....................5 4 1 0 13 6 7 13
Ebbsfleet 0; Havant & Waterlooville 1 Oxford City 2;
Cinch Scottish Premiership
Boreham Wood..........5 4 1 0 7 2 5 13
Chesterfield.................5 3 2 0 8 2 6 11 Hemel Hempstead 2 Eastbourne 2; Maidstone 2 Celtic 3 Ross County 0
Concord Rangers 2; Slough 2 St Albans 3. Carter-Vickers 64
Grimsby........................4 3 1 0 8 4 4 10
P W D L F A GD Pts Ajeti 70, 85
Notts County .............. 5 2 3 0 11 5 6 9
Yeovil............................4 3 0 1 7 3 4 9 Dartford........................6 5 1 0 15 4 11 16 Dundee 0 Livingston 0
Halifax...........................5 3 0 2 9 6 3 9 Maidstone United.....6 4 2 0 13 7 6 14
Concord Rangers......6 3 2 1 10 8 2 11
5,015
Wrexham ..................... 5 2 3 0 8 5 3 9 Heart of Midlothian 0 Hibernian
Weymouth...................5 2 1 2 8 8 0 7 Oxford City..................6 2 3 1 14 11 3 9 18,177
0
Woking.........................4 2 0 2 8
Maidenhead United.4 2 0 2 8
5 3 6
8 0 6
Havant & W.................5 3 0 2 8 5
Bath City.......................6 3 0 3 10 11 -1 9
3 9
Motherwell 2 Aberdeen 0
Altrincham .................. 4 2 0 2 6 6 0 6 Dulwich Hamlet.........5 2 2 1 12 6 6 8 Van Veen 26, Ojala 59 5,623
the times | Monday September 13 2021 1GG 15

FUNNY
Sky Bet Championship Sky Bet League One Sky Bet League Two OLD
P W D
Home Away
L F A W D L F A GD Pts P W D
Home Away
L F A W D L F A GD Pts P W D
Home Away
L F A W D L F A GD Pts
GAME
Y1 West Brom...............6 2 1 0 8 3 2 1 0 5 3 7 14 W1 Sunderland...............6 4 0 0 8 3 1 0 1 2 2 5 15 Y 1 Forest Green 7 3 0 1 9 6 2 1 0 5 2 6 16
Z2 Fulham......................6 2 1 0 6 1 2 0 1 7 3 9 13 Y2 Wigan.........................6 3 1 0 5 2 1 0 1 3 2 4 13 Z 2 Harrogate Town......6 2 2 0 8 6 2 0 0 5 1 6 14 Comedian
Y3 Stoke..........................6 3 0 0 6 3 1 1 1 3 4 2 13 Y3 Bolton.........................7 1 2 0 5 4 2 1 1 9 6 4 12 Y 3 Leyton Orient...........7 3 0 1 9 2 0 3 0 4 4 7 12 George Lewis
Z4 QPR.............................6 1 2 0 5 3 2 1 0 9 5 6 12 Y4 AFC Wimbledon......7 1 2 0 7 5 2 1 1 8 7 3 12 Y 4 Hartlepool.................6 4 0 0 6 1 0 0 2 2 4 3 12 reflects on the
Y5 Bournemouth.........6 1 2 0 7 4 2 1 0 4 1 6 12 Y5 MK Dons....................7 3 0 1 6 3 0 3 0 6 6 3 12 Y 5 Rochdale....................7 1 2 1 3 3 2 0 1 8 6 2 11 week’s action
Y6 Coventry...................6 3 0 0 6 2 1 0 2 1 3 2 12 Z6 Accrington Stanley7 3 0 0 4 1 1 0 3 3 6 0 12 Z 6 Bradford City............7 2 1 0 7 3 1 1 2 3 5 2 11
Y7 Birmingham............6 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 0 7 1 6 11 Z7 Burton Albion..........7 2 2 0 5 3 1 1 1 1 3 0 12 Z 7 Swindon......................7 1 1 2 3 4 2 1 0 5 2 2 11
Y8 Cardiff........................6 1 1 1 5 4 2 1 0 6 3 4 11 Y8 Plymouth..................6 2 2 0 6 2 1 0 1 3 2 5 11 Y 8 Exeter City.................7 1 2 0 4 1 1 2 1 5 4 4 10
Arsène Wenger is back.
Z9 Huddersfield...........6 2 0 1 6 5 1 1 1 4 4 1 10 Z9 Wycombe..................6 2 0 0 3 1 1 2 1 5 5 2 11 Z 9 Northampton...........6 2 0 1 4 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 10
W10 Blackburn.................6 1 1 1 5 5 1 2 0 4 3 1 9 Z10 Oxford United..........7 3 1 0 6 2 0 1 2 3 6 1 11 Y10 Colchester.................6 0 1 1 1 2 2 2 0 6 4 1 9
You may remember him
W 11 Bristol City...............6 0 2 1 1 2 2 0 1 6 5 0 8 Z 11 Portsmouth..............6 2 0 0 3 0 1 1 2 1 2 2 10 Y 11 Port Vale .................... 7 0 2 1 2 3 2 1 1 5 3 1 9 as one of the greatest
W 12 Luton Town.............6 1 1 1 3 5 1 1 1 5 5 -2 8 Z 12 Sheffield Wed..........6 2 0 0 3 0 1 1 2 2 4 1 10 Z 12 Carlisle........................7 1 2 0 3 2 1 1 2 4 5 0 9 managers. Or as one of the
Y 13 Preston......................6 2 0 1 5 5 0 1 2 1 3 -2 7 Z 13 Rotherham...............6 2 0 2 6 6 1 0 1 1 1 0 9 Z 13 Barrow........................7 1 2 1 6 6 1 0 2 4 3 1 8 most stubborn, frustrating
Y 14 Millwall......................6 1 1 1 4 4 0 2 1 3 5 -2 6 Y 14 Cheltenham..............7 1 1 1 4 5 1 2 1 6 6 -1 9 Y 14 Salford City................7 2 2 1 5 2 0 0 2 2 4 1 8 managers ever, depending on
Z 15 Middlesbrough ...... 6 1 1 1 5 5 0 2 1 1 3 -2 6 Z 15 Cambridge United.6 2 1 1 6 6 0 1 1 2 3 -1 8 Z 15 Tranmere...................7 2 0 1 2 1 0 2 2 0 2 -1 8 what you’re recalling.
Z 16 Derby.........................6 0 3 0 2 2 1 0 2 2 4 -2 6 Y 16 Lincoln City..............6 1 0 1 2 2 1 1 2 7 6 1 7 Y 16 Walsall.........................7 2 1 1 6 5 0 1 2 1 4 -2 8
But when he (finally) left
Z 17 Barnsley....................6 1 1 1 2 2 0 2 1 3 6 -3 6 Y 17 Fleetwood Town....6 1 0 1 3 3 1 1 2 6 6 0 7 Z 17 Newport County.....6 0 1 0 2 2 2 1 2 5 7 -2 8
Y 18 Sheffield United.....6 1 0 2 7 5 0 2 1 0 4 -2 5 Z 18 Morecambe..............6 2 0 2 6 5 0 1 1 3 4 0 7 Z 18 Stevenage..................7 1 2 0 3 2 1 0 3 4 7 -2 8 Arsenal, he didn’t just settle
Y 19 Blackpool.................6 1 0 2 1 3 0 2 1 4 5 -3 5 Z 19 Gillingham................6 1 1 0 3 2 0 2 2 3 5 -1 6 Y 19 Crawley Town..........6 2 1 0 4 2 0 0 3 3 8 -3 7 into the lucrative life of an
Z20 Hull.............................6 0 1 2 0 4 1 1 1 4 3 -3 5 Z20 Charlton.....................6 1 1 2 3 4 0 0 2 2 4 -3 4 Z20 Mansfield Town.......7 2 0 2 7 8 0 1 2 2 5 -4 7 after-dinner speaker. Instead,
Z 21 Swansea....................6 0 2 1 1 3 1 0 2 3 5 -4 5 Y 21 Shrewsbury..............7 1 1 2 3 6 0 0 3 0 4 -7 4 Z 21 Bristol Rovers...........7 2 0 1 2 2 0 1 3 3 8 -5 7 he became Fifa’s chief of global
Z22 Reading.....................6 1 1 1 7 7 0 0 3 3 9 -6 4 Z22 Ipswich.......................6 0 3 1 8 11 0 0 2 2 4 -5 3 Z22 Scunthorpe................7 1 1 2 3 8 0 2 1 1 3 -7 6 football development because
Z23 Peterborough.........6 1 1 1 4 4 0 0 3 2 10 -8 4 W23 Crewe.........................6 0 1 1 1 2 0 1 3 1 6 -6 2 Y23 Sutton United...........5 1 0 1 3 3 0 2 1 2 3 -1 5
he still has the desire to push
W24 Nottm Forest .......... 6 0 0 3 3 6 0 1 2 2 4 -5 1 W24 Doncaster.................6 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 4 1 7 -7 1 Z24 Oldham.......................7 0 0 3 1 6 1 0 3 3 8 -10 3
football forward. Or maybe he
Blackburn 2 Luton 2 Reading 3 QPR 3 Burton 1 Gillingham 1 Morecambe 3 Wimbledon 4 Crawley 2 Carlisle 1 Scunthorpe 0 Exeter 4 just didn’t have any funny
Swift Morrison 11 McLoughlin 54 Hartigan 5
Dolan 27 Berry
35, 64, 77 (og)
Hemmings 46 Oliver 18
Stockton Chislett 61
Nichols 32 Mellish 83 2,443 Jay 41, 46 stories.
Pickering 31 73, 90+8 2,555 Tsaroulla 90 2,151 Key 57
11,241 14,928 Gray 79, 49, 65 Nightingale 72 Dieng 75 Either way, he is now
Johansen Cambridge 1 Lincoln 5 3,173 Assal 90+4 F Green 1 Northmptn 0 spearheading a plan to
Blackpool 1 Fulham 0 90+1 Ironside 59 Adelakun 1 Oxford 0 Wycombe 0 Sutton 2 Stevenage 1
5,833 McGrandles 16 9,082
Matt 77 2,576 introduce biennial World
Bowler 49 11,268 Sheff Utd 6 Peterboro 2 Bennett List 55
Ndiaye 14, 70 Marriott 40 Scully 24, 72 Hartlepool 1 Bristol Rov 0 58, 63 (pen) 2,427 Cups. If successful, we’d have a
Plymouth 3 Sheff Wed 0
Bournemth 3 Barnsley 0 Fleck 51 Clarke-Harris Fiorini 57
Scarr 40 13,448 Sterry 69 5,193 Sent off: T Vancooten World Cup every two years
Solanke 46 Gibbs-White 79 (pen) Charlton 1 Cheltenham 2 Edwards 7 (Stevenage) 61 and the Euros in between.
Zemura 8, 82 68 27,359 Law 90+7 L Orient 4 Oldham 0
Osborn 53, Leko 59 Perry 33
Drinan 16 5,315 Swindon 1 Port Vale 2
It’s good to form your own
Bristol City 0 Preston 0 90+3 13,790 Blair 6 Rotherham 2 Fleetwood 4 opinions about these matters
Smith 38 Morton 24 James 27 Simpson 49 Garrity 22, 81
17,967 Stoke 2 Huddersfield 1 Ipswich 2 Bolton 5 Sadlier Garner 54 Archibald 75 8,734 but I’ve always found Jürgen
Brown 50 Toffolo 47 Almeida Doyle 18 (pen) 45+4 (pen) Andrew 61 Smith 90+1 Klopp to be a good moral
Coventry 2 Middlesbro 0 Pearson 63 (og) 20,447 8,463 Camps 69 Walsall 3 Mansfield 1
Santos 30 (og) Afolayan Rochdale 1 Tranmere 0 compass. His summary is that
Gyökeres 71 18,515 Bonne 5 10, 45+2 Taylor 22 Johnson 84
Swansea 0 Hull 0 Shrewsbury 1 Crewe 1
Waghorn 90+1
16,317 19,267 Sheehan 47 Cosgrove 19 Mandron 44
Cashman 84 Miller 6, 48 5,203 it is “all about the money” and
Nottm For 1 Cardiff 2 West Brom 1 Millwall 1
Johnston 57 5,867 Salford 1 Bradford 0 he’s probably right. But in a
Grabban 23 Colwill Bartley 49 Ballard 55 MK Dons 1 Portsmouth 0 Sunderland 2 Accrington 1 Lund 90 game where players earn
58, 73 23,142 Robson 72 10,822 Neil 15 Nottingham 30 millions, season tickets cost
Winchester 58 29,830
Wigan 2 Doncaster 1
thousands, replica kits are
TOP SCORERS TOP SCORERS Keane 24, 52 Rowe 22 TOP SCORERS hundreds, and match-day pies
6 Swift (Reading) 6 Stockton (Morecambe) 8,975 5 Armstrong (Harrogate) are the best part of a tenner,
4 Flint (Cardiff) 5 Scully (Lincoln) 5 Smith (Leyton Orient) money is bound to be an
4 Mitrovic (Fulham) 4 Afolayan (Bolton) 5 Stevens (Forest Green)
4 Solanke (Bournemouth) 4 Bonne (Ipswich) 4 Cook (Bradford City)
influencing factor.
4 Weimann (Bristol City) 4 Henry (Oxford) 4 Jay (Exeter) Klopp’s other concern is how
3 Brereton Díaz (Blackburn) 4 Ironside (Cambridge) 4 Matt (Forest Green) the amount of games will
TOP ASSISTS TOP ASSISTS TOP ASSISTS affect players. Possibly a valid

4 Giles (Cardiff)
4 Thomas (Huddersfield)
3 De Cordova-Reid (Fulham)
3 Pack (Cardiff)
3 Sharp (Sheff Utd)
3 Smith (Stoke City)
TOP SAVES
25 Ingram (Hull City)
23 Maxwell (Blackpool)
22 Collins (Barnsley)
22 Kaminski (Blackburn)
21 Rafael (Reading)
20 Benda (Swansea)
St Johnstone 1 Rangers
O’Halloran 51 Roofe 58 (pen)
Tavernier 79
St Mirren 0 Dundee United
4,894
P W D L F A GD Pts
Rangers ........................ 5 4 0 1 10 4 6 12
Hibernian.....................5 3 2 0 10 4 6 11
Heart of Midlothian..5 3 2 0 7 3 4 11
Motherwell..................5 3 1 1 8 5
Celtic..............................5 3 0 2 16 3 13 9
Aberdeen.....................5 2 2 1 6 5
Dundee United...........5 2 1 2 2 4 -2 7
St Johnstone...............5 0 3 2 2 4 -2 3
Dundee.........................5 0 3 2 4 11 -7 3
St Mirren.......................5 0 3 2 3 10 -7 3
Ross County................5 0 2 3 3 11 -8 2
Livingston....................5 0 1 4 2 9 -7 1
Cinch Championship Arbroath 4 Hamilton 0; Ayr 3
Dunfermline 1; Inverness CT 3 Partick 1; Kilmarnock 1
Morton 0; Raith 0 Queen of the South 1.
Inverness CT
P W D L F A GD Pts
5 5 0 0 7 1 6 15
Kilmarnock..................5 4 0 1 6 1
Arbroath.......................5 3 1 1 12 4 8 10
Partick Thistle............5 3 0 2 11 8
Queen of the South..5 2 0 3 7 8 -1 6
Raith Rovers...............4 1 1 2 6 6 0 4
Ayr United ................... 5 1 1 3 5 8 -3 4
Morton..........................5 1 1 3 5 9 -4 4
Hamilton ..................... 5 1 1 3 6 12 -6 4
Dunfermline .............. 4 0 1 3 3 11 -8 1
League One Alloa 2 Falkirk 0; Cove Rangers 1
Montrose 1; Dumbarton 5 East Fife 0; Peterhead 3
Clyde 2; Queen’s Park 0 Airdrieonians 0.
P W D L F A GD Pts
Queen’s Park..............6 3 3 0 8 2 6 12
Montrose ..................... 6 3 2 1 10 5
Dumbarton..................6 3 1 2 13 9 4 10
Falkirk...........................6 3 1 2 8 6
Cove Rangers.............6 2 2 2 11 9
Alloa Athletic..............5 2 1 2 7 6
Clyde ............................. 6 2 1 3 8 13 -5 7
Peterhead....................6 2 0 4 8 11 -3 6
Airdrieonians..............5 1 2 2 6 9 -3 5
East Fife........................6 1 1 4 7 16 -9 4
League Two Albion 2 Cowdenbeath 1; Annan 1
Stenhousemuir 2; Kelty 1 Elgin 1; Stirling Albion 1
Forfar 0; Stranraer 0 Edinburgh City 1.
P W D L F A GD Pts
Kelty Hearts................6 4 2 0 13 5 8 14
Annan Athletic...........6 4 0 2 11 6
6 4 5
3 Gnahoua (Morecambe) 4 Brown (Exeter) point, but player burnout isn’t
3 Hartigan (AFC Wimbledon) 3 Archibald (Leyton Orient) an argument that will fly with
3 Hoolahan (Cambridge) 3 Matt (Forest Green)
3 McConville (Accrington) 3 Thomson (Harrogate)
most football fans. In the same
3 Power (Wigan) 3 Wilson (Forest Green) way we’d have little sympathy
3 Scully (Lincoln) 2 Armstrong (Harrogate) for George Clooney telling us
TOP SAVES TOP SAVES how exhausting it is to get so
24 Mitov (Cambridge) 26 Wollacott (Swindon) much female attention.
23 Marosi (Shrewsbury) 24 Dawson (Exeter) Others have joined the
22 Dahlberg (Doncaster) 21 Bishop (Mansfield)
22 Garratt (Burton) 21 Farman (Barrow)
Wenger backlash too. Seb Coe,
21 Cumming (Gillingham) 21 Murphy (Tranmere) the IAAF president, thinks it
19 Griffiths (Lincoln) 20 Belshaw (Bristol Rovers) will be damaging to other
sports because the Olympics
Fixtures will get less focus. And lots of
journalists think it will make
2 Stirling Albion............6 4 0 2 9 7 2 12 Today Inter Milan v Real Madrid; Sheriff v
Shakhtar Donetsk (5.45).
Ipswich; Portsmouth v Cambridge
Utd; Sheff Wed v Shrewsbury;
the World Cup feel less special
Forfar Athletic ........... 6 2 3 1 8 5 3 9
Edinburgh City...........6 3 0 3 4 5 -1 9
Premier League Everton v
Burnley (8.0). Sky Bet Championship (7.45): Wycombe v Charlton. League Two (even though it will still be
Albion Rovers ............ 6 2 1 3 7 9 -2 7 Birmingham v Fulham; Bristol City Bradford City v Barrow; Bristol twice as rare as Christmas,
0 Kick-off 7.45 unless stated
v Luton; Coventry v Cardiff; Nottm Rovers v Leyton Orient; Carlisle v
Elgin City......................6 1 3 2 7 8 -1 6
Stenhousemuir..........6 1 2 3 6 10 -4 5 Tomorrow Forest v Middlesbrough; Stoke v Scunthorpe; Colchester v Crawley; which everyone seems to love).
Exeter v Sutton Utd; Mansfield v
Stranraer......................6 1 2 3 4 10 -6 5 Champions League: Group E Barnsley; Swansea v Millwall.
Rochdale; Newport County v But Wenger is no stranger to
Cowdenbeath.............6 1 1 4 7 11 -4 4
Women’s Super League
(8.0): Barcelona v Bayern Munich;
Dynamo Kiev v Benfica. Group F
Thursday Walsall; Northampton v Swindon objections. Whether it be to
Europa League: Group A Rangers (2.0); Oldham v Hartlepool; Port
Birmingham 0 Brighton 5; Chelsea 4 Everton 0; Villarreal v Atalanta (8.0); Young v Lyons. Group C Leicester v Vale v Harrogate; Stevenage v his decision to stay at Arsenal
3 10 Boys v Man Utd (5.45). Group G
Leicester 1 Man Utd 3; Man City 1 Tottenham 2;
Lille v Wolfsburg (8.0); Seville v
Napoli. Group G (5.45): Real Betis v Forest Green; Tranmere v Salford. for an extra year. Then
Reading 0 Arsenal 4; West Ham 1 Aston Villa 1. Celtic. Group H (5.45): Dinamo
1 8
P W D L F A GD Pts
Red Bull Salzburg (5.45). Group H Zagreb v West Ham.
Vanarama National League
Bromley v Barnet; Grimsby v
another year. Then another.
(8.0): Chelsea v Zenit St
Brighton 2 2 0 0 7 0 7 6 Petersburg; Malmo v Juventus. Europa Conference League: Eastleigh; Halifax v Stockport Or his introduction of healthy
Arsenal 2 2 0 0 7 2 5 6 Group G (5.45): Mura v Vitesse; County; Notts County v eating to English football in
Man Utd 2 2 0 0 5 1 4 6 Sky Bet Championship Blackburn Rennes v Tottenham. Maidenhead; Solihull Moors v
Tottenham 2 2 0 0 3 1 2 6
v Hull; Blackpool v Huddersfield;
Bournemouth v QPR; Reading v Friday Boreham Wood; Torquay v the Nineties when players had
Aston Villa 2 1 1 0 3 2 1 4 Southend; Wealdstone v been doing just fine on a high
Peterborough; Sheff Utd v Preston; Premier League Newcastle v Aldershot; Weymouth v Dover
Chelsea 2 1 0 1 6 3 3 3 West Brom v Derby. League One
Man City 2 1 0 1 5 2 3 3 Lincoln v Rotherham. League Two
Leeds. (5.20); Woking v Chesterfield; fat, high booze diet for years,
West Ham 2 0 1 1 1 3 -2 1 Cinch Scottish League Two Wrexham v Dag & Red; Yeovil v
Leicester 2 0 0 2 2 5 -3 0
Newport County v Northampton; Edinburgh City v Stirling Albion Altrincham. thank you very much. But he
Sutton Utd v Hartlepool.
Birmingham 2 0 0 2 0 6 -6 0 (7.45).
Cinch Scottish Premiership persevered and managed to
Reading 2 0 0 2 0 6 -6 0 Papa John’s EFL Trophy
5 12 Everton 2 0 0 1 0 8 -8 0 Morecambe v Everton U-21 (7.0);
Women’s World Cup qualifiers
England v North Macedonia (7.0);
Aberdeen v St Johnstone; get Tony Adams and co to
Hibernian v St Mirren; Ross County
3 9 Scottish Women’s Premier League One Tranmere v Leeds U-21 (7.0);
Ipswich v West Ham U-21; Walsall v
Hungary v Scotland (7.0); v Hearts. start eating pasta and
Celtic 2 Glasgow City 2; Hamilton 0 Rangers 7; Northern Ireland v Luxembourg vegetables so the man is
Brighton U-21 (7.0); Leyton Orient (7.0); Wales v Kazakhstan (7.15). Cinch Scottish Championship
Motherwell 0 Hibernian 4; Partick 0 Aberdeen 2; Dunfermline v Inverness CT;
Spartans 3 Hearts 1.
v Southampton U-21 (7.0).
Kick-off 3.0 unless stated Hamilton v Ayr; Morton v Raith;
capable of anything.
Vanarama National League
Spanish league Altrincham v King’s Lynn; Saturday Partick v Kilmarnock; Queen of Pep Guardiola is more open
South v Arbroath. League One
Athletic Bilbao 2 Mallorca 0; Cádiz 0 Real Sociedad Boreham Wood v Halifax; Premier League Aston Villa v
Airdrieonians v East Fife; Clyde v to Wenger’s proposal. He says
2; Espanyol 1 Atlético Madrid 2; Levante 1 Rayo Chesterfield v Barnet; Dag & Red v Everton (5.30); Burnley v Arsenal;
Vallecano 1; Osasuna 1 Valencia 4; Real Madrid 5 Weymouth; Eastleigh v Dover; Liverpool v Crystal Palace; Man Queen’s Park; Falkirk v it is being rejected by so many
Dumbarton; Montrose v Alloa;
Celta Vigo 2. Grimsby v Wrexham; Maidenhead
v Stockport County; Notts County
City v Southampton; Norwich v
Watford; Wolverhampton v Peterhead v Cove Rangers. in football because “everyone
Italian league v Wealdstone; Solihull Moors v Brentford (12.30). League Two Albion v Kelty Hearts; just looks after themselves”
Atalanta 1 Fiorentina 2; AC Milan 2 Lazio 0; Cagliari 2 Cowdenbeath v Forfar; Elgin v
Genoa 3; Empoli 1 Venezia 2; Napoli 2 Juventus 1;
Torquay; Southend v Aldershot;
Woking v Bromley. North Brackley
Sky Bet Championship Barnsley v Annan; Stranraer v and we should look at the pros
5 11 Blackburn; Cardiff v Bournemouth;
Roma 2 Sassuolo 1; Sampdoria 2 Inter Milan 2; v Darlington. Derby v Stoke; Fulham v Reading;
Stenhousemuir. and cons before making a
Spezia 0 Udinese 1; Torino 4 Salernitana 0.
2 10
German league
Cinch Scottish League One Huddersfield v Nottm Forest; Hull Sunday decision. So, here they are . . .
2 8 Airdrieonians v Alloa. v Sheff Utd (12.30); Luton v
1 7 Bayer Leverkusen 3 Borussia Dortmund 4; Bochum SPFL Trust Trophy Rangers U-21 v Swansea; Middlesbrough v
Premier League Brighton v
Leicester (2.0); Tottenham v
Cons: players get tired,
1 Hertha Berlin 3; Borussia Mönchengladbach 3 Ayr (7.30). Blackpool; Millwall v Coventry;
Peterborough v Birmingham;
Chelsea (4.30); West Ham v Man Klopp is annoyed, World Cup
Arminia Bielefeld 1; Eintracht Frankfurt 1 Stuttgart 1; Utd (2.0).
Freiburg 1 Cologne 1; Greuther Fürth 0 Wolfsburg 2; Kick-off 8.0 unless stated Preston v West Brom; QPR v feels less special.
Cinch Scottish Premiership
Hoffenheim 0 Mainz 2; RB Leipzig 1 Bayern Munich Wednesday
Bristol City. League One AFC
Wimbledon v Plymouth; Dundee Utd v Dundee (midday); Pros: more big games, Seb
4; Union Berlin 0 Augsburg 0.
French league
Champions League: Group A Club Accrington v Wigan; Bolton v Livingston v Celtic; Rangers v Coe is annoyed, we statistically
Bruges v PSG; Man City v RB Rotherham; Cheltenham v Oxford Motherwell.
Bordeaux 2 Lens 3; Brest 1 Angers 1; Lyons 3 Leipzig. Group B Atletico Madrid v Utd; Crewe v Burton Albion; Scottish Women’s Premier
have twice as many chances to
Strasbourg 1; Metz 0 Troyes 2; Monaco 0 Marseilles Porto; Liverpool v AC Milan. Group Doncaster v Morecambe; League One Aberdeen v Hamilton win a World Cup.
2; Montpellier 2 Saint-Etienne 0; Nantes 0 Nice 2; C Besiktas v Borussia Dortmund Fleetwood v Sunderland; (2.0); Rangers v Spartans (2.0);
5 12 PSG 4 Clermont 0; Rennes 0 Reims 2. (5.45); Sporting v Ajax. Group D Gillingham v MK Dons; Lincoln v Motherwell v Celtic (4.0). Mr Wenger, I’m sold.
16
IAN
HAWKEY
European Football
Champions League is back – full
of clubs that are easy to dislike
An enormous banner — the height of a tall man
and the breadth of two large cars — was
unfurled in an away section of Leipzig’s Red Bull
Arena during the visit of Bayern Munich on
Saturday. Written in English, it had been
designed for a global audience. “F*** RB,” it read.
Big, bold and simple.
This banner has travelled to east Germany in
Bayern supporters’ luggage before. In fact, it has
been developing a sort of international patent. At
the end of last month, in the play-off round of
the Champions League, the Austrian club Red
Bull Salzburg were serenaded into their away leg
at Brondby in Denmark with the same words,
printed in easy-to-read type.
Salzburg won that tie 4-2 meaning that they,
and RB Leipzig, will be competing for a third
year running in the group stage of club football’s
most prestigious competition, a twin success for
the substantial investment of a well-known
Austrian beverage company. Red Bull: the drink
that gives wings to neglected corners of football;
the drink that gives ammunition to whingeing
opponents about unfair financial advantages.
The good news for Leipzig and Salzburg is that
this season’s Champions League is threaded with
so many strands of piety about what constitutes a
proper, righteous football club that they could
end up feeling like the good guys. It’s all relative.
Is being funded by a sugary drink manufacturer
less or more disruptive to whatever the natural
order is deemed to be than being backed by a
Gulf state? Or being one of the entitled klutzes
involved in a Super League conspiracy? Between
the sodas, the sheikhs and the would-be Super
Leaguers, who in April spectacularly failed to
launch a closed competition in place of Uefa’s
flagship tournament, there are a diminishing
number left on the side of chivalry.
Ten of the clubs, including Liverpool,
Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester
City, who signed up to the European Super
League project will embark on a Champions
League campaign that they were persuaded,
albeit briefly, they should outgrow. Qatar-backed
Paris Saint-Germain, whose spending power
many of the signatories want to curb, are not in
that subset but have spent the summer further
infuriating the establishment superclubs by their
extensive recruitment and vastly expanding their
salary bill.
Which leaves, among the realistic favourites
for the next European Cup, Bayern, a club
neither soda-streamed, Gulf-galvanised nor, to
use the typescript on other popular protest
banners, Super League-stained. But before any
neutral decides Bayern are a noble bet for
Champions League glory, they might pause and
wonder if Bayern have not been taking too
literally, as an instruction, the words on
Saturday’s big banner at the Red ed Bull Arena.
In the part of the stadium where
here it was
displayed, stewards had it removedoved at half-
time. There were scuffles between een Bayern fans
and orderlies. At that stage, Bayern
yern were
leading Leipzig 1-0 thanks to Robert
Lewandowski’s penalty. By the end
Bayern had won 4-1, the Bundesliga’s
esliga’s
game of the day swung heavilyy by the
introduction of the teenaged
substitute Jamal Musiala — once nce of
England Under-21, now Germany’s any’s
very own Emma Raducanu — and
other demonstrations of Bayern’s n’s
superior resources on the bench. ch.
Those would include Bayern’s n’s
young head coach, Julian
Nagelsmann, 34, freshly
headhunted from Leipzig, whom m appeared to be cold-shouldered by
Alphonso Davies, left, of Bayern, and Leipzig’s Emil Forsberg contest possession at the Red Bull Arena
where the visiting team ensured a happy return for Nagelsmann, below, to his former club in a 4-1 win
he guided to a Champions League semi-final in
2020 and the top of the Bundesliga for three
months of the past two seasons. In a league
where Bayern have been champions for the past
nine seasons, that made Leipzig uncomfortable
upstarts.
So, in the summer, Bayern set about doing to
RB what the banner recommends, with time-
honoured techniques. Just as Borussia
Dortmund’s rise to prominence a decade ago had
its momentum stalled when Mario Götze,
Lewandowski and an Mats Hummels were lured
from there to Bayern,
Ba so a wholesale capture
of Leipzig’s expertise
expe has served to weaken the
challenger and fortify the champion.
Following Nagelsmann
Na east to west was
Dayot Upamecano,
Upam pillar of the tightest
defence in last season’s Bundesliga. He
moved fr from Leipzig to Munich for
£37 million.
millio On the penultimate day of
the sum
summer transfer window, Bayern
then co
confirmed the signing of the
Leipzig
Leipzi captain Marcel Sabitzer, who
had a year left on his contract and
cost about £14 million.
Sabitzer
S made his Bayern debut
at his
h old manor on Saturday, off
the bench, to shrill whistling by
some home
hom fans. He seemed affected by
it. Also booed
bo was Nagelsmann, who
1GG Monday September 13 2021 | the times
THE
LAST
WORD
Was it right that Cristiano
Ronaldo’s return for Manchester
United was not live in the UK?
Tony Cascarino: No
There was a special sporting event
on Saturday that broadcasters
could not possibly have known
about when they were planning
their schedules, but that was such
a major attraction that a late
BORIS STREUBEL/BUNDESLIGA COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES
decision was taken to make sure it
was shown live to as many people
as possible. No, I am not talking
about Cristiano Ronaldo’s return
for Manchester United against
Newcastle. I mean Emma
Raducanu’s US Open final. A deal
was struck so that Channel 4
showed it live and 9.2m people
watched. Compare that with the
football, where neither Sky nor
BT were permitted to show
Ronaldo’s return because of the
Saturday 3pm “blackout”, a rule
that says no match can be shown
live in this country at that time so
people are not discouraged from
attending a match. I understand
the rule but it is ridiculous that
only five countries in the world
did not show the game live and
that one of those was the country
in which the game was taking
place. Sky and BT subscribers pay
a lot of money to watch Premier
League football in this country
and they deserve better.
Martin Hardy: Yes
At 3pm on Saturday, Old Trafford
filled with noise and colour and
expectation for Cristiano
Ronaldo’s return to Manchester
United, and if you weren’t there, if
you spend your life in your
armchair, you didn’t see it live.
How are you today? Have you
survived? I was in the away end. If
you want to watch a game at that
time, go. If you love the sport,
you’re supposed to go and watch a
game. So I grew up every other
week at Whitley Bay Football
Club, or Blyth Spartans, or North
Shields FC. I went with my dad,
and us two going kept them going.
That’s how perhaps the greatest
footballing pyramid in the world
works. You put your money in
and a club lower down the level
struggles on. If we spent Saturday
afternoons watching television,
the chances are those clubs
Leipzig’s chief executive Oliver Mintzlaff when wouldn’t be here now. In England,
they crossed paths, just before Mintzlaff gave all the leagues pretty much play
pre-match interviews in which, surveying what at the same time. You kill them,
the market has done to the squad in the past two be it the Championship, League
years, he sounded a little rueful. One or much further down the
“They were our decisions,” Mintzlaff said of pyramid, by putting Premier
the sales of Sabitzer and Upamecano but he League games live on televisions
reflected that rapid upward mobility — Leipzig on a Saturday afternoon. My pals
were in Germany’s third tier in 2014 — and who went to watch United against
mighty corporate backing can get a provincial Newcastle on Saturday booked
club only so far. “If we had kept Naby Keïta [sold their train tickets four weeks ago
to Liverpool] and Timo Werner [to Chelsea] we because they were cheap. Fans
might have won the Champions League.” who follow their team across the
All of which is reassuring to City, who host the country spend a fortune. You
wounded Leipzig on Wednesday in Champions move that game, you screw them
League group A. That is A for arrivistes, a group over, and they’re the best
that includes no former European champions, supporters in football.
and yet, even before a week when Bayern are
away to Barcelona, AC Milan are at Liverpool
and Real Madrid visit Inter Milan, looks as
heavyweight as any. PSG are its second seeds.
THE GAME
They beat Leipzig in last year’s semi-finals; City
beat PSG at that stage last season.
PODCAST
Poor Club Bruges are cast as group A’s Times writers Henry
punchbags. The Belgians are bracing themselves Winter and Alyson
for Wednesday’s visit of Lionel Messi, Neymar
and Kylian Mbappé with little protection beyond Rudd debate the big
ancient history — Bruges reached a European issues of the weekend
Cup final once, more than 40 years before City
or PSG did — and perhaps, by the time Leipzig and week ahead.
get there, a strongly worded protest banner. Available today.