Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
EVEN STEPHENS
Welsh hoping to take his game up a notch after Kennedy brings in ex-skipper Mcmanus
IT’S WELSH RARE BITE
STEPHEN WELSH will never forget what Neil Lennon did for his career.
But, with the old gaffer gone, the young stopper is now hoping two former defensive talents in the shape of John Kennedy (inset) and Stephen Mcmanus will help him push onto the next stage of his dehavmeill-opment at Celtic. Welsh is indebted to the faith shown in him by Lennon.
The former boss handed him a Parkhead first-team debut just over a year ago at Hamilton.
He dished out a second start at the beginning of this campaign in the biggest domestic game of the lot against Rangers.
Days later, Lennon trusted Welsh to go in against AC Milan in the Europa League. Lennon is no longer in the building, but his confidence in Welsh looks like being well placed with the youngster stepping up to the plate in recent weeks to keep Shane Duffy out of the side as replacement for injured Christopher Jullien.
Welsh won’t forget and admits it’s been a tough education seeing Lennon leave as he said: “I will always have a lot to owe the old gaffer. He gave me my debut, my derby debut and my European debut.
“I can’t thank him enough for that and what he did for me. As a footballer, all you want is someone to trust you and give you a chance. That’s what he did for me.”
The departure of Lennon led to two promotions within the staff. Kennedy, of course, moved into the main position, but
Mcmanus also moved up into the top-team picture.
Both of these individuals made it through the ranks at Parkhead. Both of them were deemed good enough to play in the Champions League for the club. Mcmanus won 26 caps for Scotland. Kennedy may have won more had he not been struck down in his very first assigment by a brutal Romanian tackle which, really, signalled the end of his playing career.
Welsh knows both men can play a pivotal role in his growth going forward as he said: “We are moving on now with Kendo and we are trying to get results. “As a former defender, I know he can help me a lot and he already has. I don’t remember Kendo playing for Celtic. I’m only 21, but my dad has told me a lot about him and said he was a top player and would have done big things, but I know he was unfortunate with injuries.
“Stephen is also up with the first team and he was my reserves coach. Both of them played central defence for Celtic at a really high level, so that’s great for me.”
LEAFY and affluent, the Essex stockbroker belt was light years from the gifted prodigy’s roots in Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? country.
“Look at that,” said Glenn Roeder, slowing down momentarily on his drivethrough tour of palatial suburbia so his young passenger could take in a prosperous neighbourhood.
“One of these days, if you work hard, keep at it and don’t get distracted, you could have a house like that.”
Paul Gascoigne was as impressed by his chauffeur’s knowledge of real estate – and the England royalty who lived in the swish property – as he was grateful for his minder’s hospitality.
Among Roeder’s many gifts to football, he was such a reliable character – calm, measured, loyal and unflustered – that he was detailed by Newcastle United to take rising star Gazza under his wing. The young rascal would occasionally reward the finest man-marking assignment of Roeder’s career by playing pranks on his chaperone.
Gascoigne once inserted the nozzle of a whistling kettle in the exhaust pipe of Roeder’s car.
“You could hear him coming a mile off,” chortled English football’s sultan of mischief.
“But what a lovely fella, what a man.”
In his variety of football incarnations, Roeder was a cultured defender who could bluff his way out of tight corners with an enviable step-over double shuffle, which his father taught him as a young boy.
He would become an inspirational captain, astute coach, resourceful manager and, in every avatar, a man who cared deeply about the game.
Glenn Roeder, who has died at the age of 65 after a long and dignified battle against a brain tumour, was not just respected and liked throughout football. Along with Billy
Bonds and Howard Kendall, he was also one of the unluckiest men never to win a full England cap.
Though his knowledge ran deep enough for him to serve as one of former Three Lions coach Glenn Hoddle’s trusted lieutenants.
Part of the Orient side who reached the FA Cup semifinals in 1978, he made it to Wembley with Queens Park Rangers four years later, leading out the Hoops against Tottenham – although he missed the replay through suspension.
At Newcastle he was initially in the supporting cast amid the black-and-white hysteria of Kevin Keegan’s swansong as a player.
And when Gascoigne’s exotic gifts required an experienced pro to act as a father figure, mentor and behavioural consultant, Roeder was a safe pair of hands.
Management was less kind to him at first, a close call with relegation out of the league with Gillingham proving a testing baptism, but he was a sound judge of ability and character.
He led both West Ham and Newcastle to seventh in the Premier League, installing Alan Shearer – still playing at 36 – as his assistant. Shearer led the chorus of mourning on Twitter, posting: “So sad. A fantastic man. RIP Glenn.”
It was in charge of the Hammers, in 2003, where Roeder was first diagnosed with a brain tumour.
At least one hack will always owe Roeder a debt of gratitude for helping him to clear a pathway from the provinces to Fleet Street.
As a live ‘audition’ for a job with a reputable agency, the young scribe was detailed to write a 3,000-word essay on the Pearly King of Tyneside, and the interview subject gave him 45 minutes of his time on a midweek night when it would have been easier to hang up.
Thanks, in no small measure, to Roeder’s generosity of time and anecdote, he got the job.
God bless you, Glenn.
ULTIMATELY, neither were quite good enough to step up and win the game.
In truth, it could be the story of a frustrating season for both Chelsea and Manchester United who are handing the Premier League title on a plate to Pep Guardiola.
Manchester City finished the weekend 12 points clear at the top having extended their lead by beating West Ham, while all their so-called challengers slipped up again.
Leicester lost, United dropped two more points and Chelsea are more focused on getting into the top four, such is the distance between them and the top in every sense.
But it was baffling how two teams pushing for greater things could serve up another drab goalless draw following the stalemate at Old Trafford in October.
This is the first time since the 1921-22 campaign that both league games of the season between these two clubs finished goalless.
At least this one involved some controversy and chances, although still no goals and plenty of frustration for both sides. United at least extended to 20 their remarkable run of unbeaten away games in the Premier League, but much more concerning is their record against their supposed Big Six rivals.
They have not won any of their seven meetings with Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool, Arsenal and City this term, drawing five and losing other two. Their only goal came in the 6-1 defeat by Tottenham.
Basically, United seem to be flat track bullies, remarkably consistent at getting results against the rest but struggling to convince against direct rivals.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men clearly lack the extra bit of quality, particularly in attack. They have to improve in that department this summer.
Edinson Cavani was injured, Marcus Rashford was quiet, Mason Greenwood frustrating and if Bruno Fernandes does not play well – and he did not – United struggle to get going.
They were fuming over a VAR controversy – one replay angle made it look a clear handball by Callum Hudson-odoi while another absolved him – but they should take a look at themselves first.
Chelsea huffed and puffed, Hakim Ziyech missed their biggest chance in the second
is giving Pep the title on a plate
half when he was denied by David de Gea’s brilliant point blank save.
But the best entertainment really was Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel, his histrionics on the touchline were brilliant.
From having a war of words with Solskjaer, to bawling out his players and then jumping and down in frustration, it was hard to take your eyes off him.
Tuchel is incredibly expressive with his reactions, very easy to read and was getting as annoyed as the rest of us at Chelsea’s failure to open up the opposition.
The first half was awful. Truly awful. There was no painting it any other way. The biggest moment came after 14 minutes. Rashford smashed a free-kick, Chelsea keeper Edouard Mendy punched it away and the ball fell between Hudson-odoi and Greenwood.
It took an eternity for any hint of a VAR check. Then referee Stuart Attwell went over to his monitor. The ball clearly hit Hudson-odoi’s hand under pressure from Greenwood but Attwell deemed it was not a penalty as the Chelsea player did not move towards the ball.
There were few chances. Hudson-odoi’s right-wing cross just eluded Olivier Giroud who crashed into the post having failed to get on the end of the ball.
Ziyech had a chance after the restart but his shot was well saved and Reece James saw his effort blocked on the rebound.
Fred went close for United, Scott Mctominay was denied by Mendy and then Victor Lindelof made a terrific intervention when late substitute Timo Werner seemed certain to score.
Eventually, it finished. Honours even.
But you can bet City and Guardiola will now be counting the days and the games until they are crowned champions.
IN the Liverpool pile-on, there have been statistics used to bash Trent Alexander-arnold this season.
No one, it seems, gives the ball away quite like the most vaunted English full-back of recent times.
But maybe that is because Alexander-arnold tries to do more things than most fullbacks. More shots, more crosses, more surging runs. Quite simply, more adventure, more risk.
But amid this mediocre spell for one and all at
Anfield, the likes of Alexanderarnold and Curtis Jones (left) have not lost their bravado, their swagger.
Theirs was not a direct combination for the goal that put Liverpool on the path to a first
Premier League win since January but their input was crucial to helping Jurgen Klopp’s side snap their losing streak.
Alexander-arnold’s drive and pace somehow kept a ball in play and, after Phil Jagielka’s illfated intervention, Jones finished with the sort of confidence that has distinguished his game since his emergence ( far right).
Here were two local lads, amid the glumness surrounding recent team performances, giving a reminder of the long-term future’s promise. And after the pair had made the second-half breakthrough, it was plain sailing for the champions. As it should have been from the off, of course. Regardless of Liverpool’s recent run, there is still a significant gap between themselves and the likes of Sheffield United. You can safely call it a gulf. Even allowing for the absence
of the two first-choice centrehalves and captain, and their regular keeper Alisson, Liverpool’s starting XI should have been a class above Chris Wilder’s team.
In the main, they were, and formalities would have been wrapped up early had the formidable front three been in the sort of touch that has decorated recent seasons.
But while it would be easy to tag Roberto Firmino’s miss with a lack of confidence, that would be doing a sprawling Aaron Ramsdale an injustice.
Firmino was certainly in decent enough nick to send Mohamed Salah clear but, not for the first time in his life, the Egyptian cocked a deaf ear to the pleas of a wonderfullypositioned Sadio Mane.
You suspect it was not the last Salah heard of the matter.
Soon after, Alexander-arnold also declined a good crossing opportunity, but with good reason and only a decent Ramsdale save denied the full-back.
Ramsdale’s opposite number, Adrian, was not completely unworried but David Mcgoldrick’s header and Ozan Kabak’s ‘own goal’ were deemed irrelevant by the assistant’s flag and routine VAR checks.
Still, Liverpool’s reluctance to score first-half Premier League goals – it is one in 11 – and Ramsdale’s resistance kept the Blades in business, heading into the second half. And after starting brightly post-interval, they might even have spied a real shock but Jones’s emphatic finish dimmed that hope and
Firmino’s quick extinguished it.
The deflection off Kean Bryan was decisive enough for those who like to award own goals to get involved but it was the Brazilian’s ingenuity that doubled the lead and secured a win that brought a grin of relief from Klopp (left).
For Wilder, only a resigned smile. Sheffield United laboured hard and honestly, and created the odd half-chance, but had Ramsdale not been in peak form, this defeat against a Liverpool side nowhere near its best would have been crushing.
Sad to say but their fate is all but sealed. feet
FURIOUS Ole Gunnar Solskjaer claims Manchester United were denied a clear penalty because referees are afraid to give them any more spot-kicks. Solskjaer was fuming after referee Stuart Attwell did not award a penalty, despite a lengthy VAR check, after Chelsea’s Callum Hudson-odoi appeared to handle the ball in the first half.
And the United manager (left) claims there was so much “noise” in the past few months from rival managers about them getting penalties that it has unfairly influenced referees.
Solskjaer said: “I’m a bit concerned that we don’t get those penalties