Just Gran and bear it
GRANIT XHAKA has been offered ‘counselling’ after the Swiss midfielder was mocked by Arsenal fans when he was substituted against Crystal Palace.
Do me a favour. The supporters expressed their opinions and so did Xhaka in return. It’s called freedom of speech.
But if anyone needs the state of his mind looking at it’s Unai Emery.
The Gunners boss handed Mesut Ozil a rare start in the midweek Carabao Cup game at Liverpool – and the German was outstanding.
Then Emery decided to take him off with 25 minutes to go – a bizarre move that helped the Gunners go on to lose on penalties, despite leading three times. (right)
EDDIE JONES has waited a long time to heal the pain of what Sir Clive Woodward did to him 16 years ago in Sydney.
That was when old sparring partner Woodward led England to World Cup victory in 2003 over Jones’ Australian side in their own backyard.
Jones remains one of the best in the business, but despite being part of the South African backroom staff that became world champions in 2007 in Paris, he has never landed the big one as a head coach.
But good things come to those who wait and tomorrow morning in Yokohama Jones will get another chance to cement his place in the pantheon of coaching greats.
It feels ironic Jones will now lead into battle the same team that once caused him the most painful moment of his long and distinguished career.
He won’t give a damn, though. To him, all that counts is to finally get his hands on the ultimate trophy. Who he does it with is irrelevant. But should England beat South
Africa at the Nissan Stadium, the achievement won’t just see Jones equal what Woodward once did, it will elevate him above his old rival.
It would mean England had beaten Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in successive sudden-death knockout games en route to landing the Webb Ellis Cup.
Three southern hemisphere nations that have dominated world rugby for longer than we care to remember.
England’s performance against the All Blacks in the semi-final was close to perfection.
Jones’ side were so good that the back-to-back world champions had to rely on a gift to register their only points of the game – and two controversial TMO decisions to prevent them from being on the wrong end of a hiding.
When England marched to the 2003 final they beat mediocre Welsh and French sides in the knockout stages.
They had to rely on the boot of Jonny Wilkinson to get past France in the last four and never came close to setting the standard this current side did last weekend.
Jones’ men don’t rely on anyone in particular. Not even captain Owen Farrell, who bravely limped through the famous win over the All Blacks.
Woodward polished already established world-class stars, but Jones has built from scratch a team still nowhere near its potential.
He took charge of a broken side in the wake of the shambolic World Cup campaign of 2015, identified the talent needed to fit into his long-term plan and went on to nurture, develop and improve those he chose.
The likes of Sam Underhill, Tom Curry, Maro Itoje and Kyle Sinckler could be world champions but still have their best years ahead of them.
The immediate salvage operation under Jones saw England go on a world-record equalling run of 17 Test wins, claim a first Grand Slam for 13 years and a 3-0 series whitewash of the Aussies Down Under.
But Jones only ever had one date in mind. Should he and his team become world champions tomorrow, then, sorry Clive, the triumph will be the biggest of all and Jones will go down as England’s greatest-ever head coach.