Less like Les more like Mo
LES FERDINAND has been bemoaning the decline of the allure of the old-school centre-forward.
He’s noticed that today’s kids, instead of wanting to be a target-man, prefer to play like Lionel Messi. But he believes this is a fad, and teams may soon revert to having two-man partnerships up front, like “Shearer and Ferdinand”.
I can’t see it happening any time soon if this season is anything to go by. Liverpool’s Mo Salah, with his 20 goals and five assists, looks the buy of the summer. City’s Raheem Sterling, with 15 goals and three assists, the most improved player.
If Philippe Coutinho or Eden Hazard were to demand a transfer next month they would command fees in excess of £90million.
The most valuable player is becoming the one who is small, quick, blessed with upper-body strength and stamina, can dribble freely between the attacking lines, and provide regular goals and assists.
Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois believes watching Hazard play is like watching someone
“going round cones”. That, following the impact of Messi, is how the modern superstar looks.
Sorry to disappoint Les, but the conemen have become the most sought-after attacking players in the game and will remain so for quite some time.
LOUIS VAN GAAL says he would take one more managerial job but it would have to be at “a big club” in England and he’d only do it “to spite Manchester United”.
A typically modest selfassessment of where he thinks he stands in the global coaching pecking order. But it does raise the question: Which “big club” does he have in mind to spite United, seeing he’s won only one major league title this century, was bombed out of Old Trafford and will be 67 next summer?