UNITED MUST AXE MOURINHO AND BRING BACK THE FUN
Just two of the 10 things I want to see to make this a special season
IT was the summer when the World Cup in Russia helped us fall in love with international football again but on Friday the Premier League is back to reclaim its place in our affections. Here is a wishlist of 10 things to keep it at the top of the game.
1
Jose Mourinho was a great manager and he may be a great manager again but his relentless self-pity and his raging narcissism became tedious a long time ago. He was indulged, up to a point, when his teams were winning titles but his petulant behaviour on Manchester United’s t o ur o f America this summer was almost as dull and predictable as some of the football he has been inflicting on United’s supporters over the past two seasons.
I hope this is the season when United rid themselves of his yoke, preferably before players such as Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba move to escape him, and hire a boss who can treat Old Trafford to the kind of vibrant, attacking, energetic football that is in vogue elsewhere in the division. The World Cup r eminded us t hat f oot bal l is supposed to be fun but more than ever Mourinho seems intent on sucking the life out of the game.
2
In defiance of the prophecies that it would usher in anarchy at the World Cup, VAR was a success in Russia. The measured, intelligent way it was used proved t hat t he Premier League was mistaken to bow to the hysteria that greeted its every implementation i n the FA Cup l ast season by blocking its introduction in the league this season.
So I hope that when the moaning begins this season about decisions that hard-pressed officials have got wrong, clubs remember the feeling of injustice long enough to make sure they do not delay any more and introduce the system ready for next season. The Premier League are supposed to be leaders in our game. Right now, the absence of VAR make s them look like troglodytes.
3
The reaction to Neymar’s pathetic histrionics for Brazil during the World Cup was another indication that the public have run out of patience with the antics of some players and the epidemic of attempted deception in the game. Sure, there are worse things in football: bad tackles that can end careers; swinging elbows that can shatter bones.
But it is more and more obvious the efforts to feign or exaggerate injury are affecting the enjoyment of supporters. I hope this season that players who persevere with these antics are laughed out of town as Neymar has been. Maybe then, we will find a cure.
4
I am not a Liverpool supporter but I am a fan of much that the club stand for and of their manager, J ur gen Klopp, a nd everything he brings to the Premier League. He is part of the new wave of managers in our top flight whose intensity and zeal and love of the g a me trail enthusiasm and enjoyment behind them.
Klopp has spent big in the transfer window and there is a consensus that he needs to win a trophy to justify the outlay. So I hope a Liverpool team that look like a side capable of fashioning a challenge for the title pick up a prize. The longer Klopp sticks around in England, the better.
5
There are too many vanilla palaces t o excess in t he Premier League; too many stadiums that have been turned into libraries; too many stadiums where the prawn sandwich brigade hold sway, where the idea of an intimidating atmosphere is but a distant memory.
I hope the new Spurs stadium, scheduled to stage its first home league game in the middle of next month, is an antidote to all that. The stadium certainly looks the part. Its magnificent design is an indication that it might just be the kind of cauldron that will make it into one of the most stirring arenas in English game.
6
The criticism aimed at Paul Pogba last season because of the way he chose to have his hair cut was one of the more curious features of the Premier League campaign. It is time, surely, that we moved beyond appearance when trying to judge a footballer’s performance on the pitch.
When I was at Edgbaston for the first Test on Friday, I consulted former England coach and renowned expert in modern manners, David ‘ Bumble’ Lloyd, on this very matter but his belief that footballers should be restricted to short back and sides and only allowed tattoos that say ‘Mum and Dad’ or depict an anchor did not quite chime with my own.
7
Amid all the positivity that surrounded England at the World Cup, it was still obvious that Gareth Southgate’s side lacked a strong, creative influence in midfield; a player who can surge past a man; a player with the vision to thread a killer pass; a playmaker; a Christian Eriksen; an Eden Hazard; a Luka Modric. How encouraging it would be if we can start to remedy that this season by giving English players more game-time in our top league. In Russia, Southgate referenced the fact that only a third of players in the Premier League are English, thus reducing his talent pool drastically. If J ac kWil she re ( left), at West Ham and Ruben LoftusCheek, at Chelsea, played more regularly this season, that would be a start. If Phil Foden began to feature for Manchester City, that would be even better. The more eligible players who appear in our top division this season, the better Southgate’s chances of building on the successes of Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow and Samara.
8
The ugliest thing I saw last season was the harassment of referee Michael Oliver by then Juventus keeper Gianluigi Buffon in the Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid. Different competition, sure, but the tendency of players and managers to blame officials for their own mistakes is still commonplace in the Premier League, too. This season, wouldn’t it be refreshing if players and bosses started to take responsibility for their own actions. If they don’t, it’s time to come down much harder on dissent.
9
Maybe it’s of limited interest to fans but it would be a step forward if the thaw in relations between the England team and the media that took place over the summer could be replicated in the Premier League.
Yes, that makes journalists’ jobs easier and more pleasurable but the other lesson from what happened in Russia is that it helps to present players as threedimensional beings rather than distant figures hidden behind the tinted windows of 4x4s.
Southgate knows most players are ordinary, decent lads with inspiring stories to tell. It’s just that most of the time, they’ re not allowed to talk. The more forwardthinking clubs grew more open some time ago but there are plenty still stuck in a dark age of suspicion and misinformation.
10
I enjoyed watching Manchester Ci t y last season as much as any title-winning team I have seen. But I hope the race for the title is closer this season because, for all City’s brilliance, it’s no fun when the title has effectively been won by Christmas.
City are still the team to beat but Liverpool will press them more closely than United were able to last season. My prediction for the top four: 1. Manchester City 2. Liverpool 3. Chelsea 4. Manchester United. One final wish for the new season: I hope my predictions get better, too.