Premier League
MAN UNITED TARGET, GREALISH WILL HAVE HIS AUDITION TONIGHT
Graeme Souness is not exactly angling for a job in Manchester United’s recruitment department. Even so, would they have taken note of his comments on Jack Grealish this week?
Grealish has been a long-term target for them, clearly a player that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admires, and the Aston Villa man is a mooted £50million target for them in the window.
They have identified him as an addition that could help them step up another level. Competing for the Champions League places is not enough, and the aim in the summer will be to turn them into a top Premier League side.
Yet Souness is not convinced Grealish can bring that to Old Trafford. During the game against Liverpool on Sunday, he suggested the midfielder lacked intensity.
When asked for his assessment of Grealish, Souness told Sky Sports: ‘He has got quality but do the top teams carry passengers when they don’t have the ball?
‘No – they don’t have players that stand with their hands on their hips when they lose the ball.
‘Everyone rolls their sleeves up to be the first, second or third one to press. That is something that is not in his game right now.
‘I’m not denying he has talent – but for me there’s a big question mark.’
A stat that is regularly trotted out to back up the 24-year-old’s ability is that he is the most fouled player in the league.
He has been fouled 151 times in the 2019-20 season – a huge 45 times more than the next most fouled player, Wilfried Zaha.
It has often been suggested that it means opposition players are worried about him, and decide the only way to deal with him is by means that go against the rules of the game.
Yet Souness saw it another way. ‘When I was a player, I wouldn’t want to be the most fouled player in the league,’ he said.
‘That means I’m holding onto the ball too long. That means I’m not seeing the picture early enough, I’m taking extra touches when I don’t need to.
‘He has ability and he’s easy on the eye, silky on the eye. But, I am yet to be convinced by him.
‘When I was being coached at Liverpool, I was told that I had to make the striker’s mind up with my body movement.
‘I’m making them run where I’m looking to kick the ball. I think someone that gets fouled that much isn’t seeing the picture quick enough.
‘As an old midfield player, would I have liked to play against him? I would have loved to have played against him.
‘He allows me to get close to him, get physical with him. I don’t want to play Paul Scholes, Xavi or Andres Iniesta. They are too quick – they pop it off in one or two touches.
‘I want to play against people like him – he would allow me to mess him around.’
Grealish will have the perfect opportunity to prove Souness wrong on Thursday evening when Villa host United. If he can star in that game, it shows that he has the talent to feature for the opposition next season.
Yet there are fair doubts to be had over whether the Villa man is that standard of player. He has six assists all season, admittedly putting him joint 15th in the Premier League.
But that also means he ranks under Emiliano Buendia and Harvey Barnes, who both have seven. Neither have been touted for big money moves despite impressing.
It also puts him on the same level as Dwight McNeil and Ashley Westwood. Again, it is no criticism of them, just an acknowledgement that they are not being mentioned in the same dispatches.
He is also level with Daniel James, who has been criticised for his recent displays for United.
Admittedly, he has created 82 chances, the second best in the top flight. It could lead to doubts over whether Villa – relegation threatened – have the firepower to convert the opportunities he makes.
Yet only six of those have been touted as ‘big chances’. That actually means that Villa’s forwards are matching up to the quality Grealish provides for them.
While he is providing positions for them to have an effort at goal from, only six of them have been particularly good.
This is not to say Souness is entirely right. Grealish is clearly a talent and impressed at Old Trafford earlier this season. Solskjaer said on Wednesday that he would watch out for him: ‘Grealish scored a fantastic goal (last time we played).
‘There’s been loads said about him and we need to be aware of him, if he’s off the left, middle or right.
‘He attracts players to him but there’s not just one player in that Villa team, there are a lot of them.’
And he has been a talismanic figure for a poor Villa side. He dragged them to promotion last season, the run of form that took them to the play-offs from mid-table entirely coinciding with his return to fitness.
His agent Jonathan Barnett did hint at a move to a big side after insisting his focus was on keeping Villa up: ‘I think as far as his career is concerned, it would be great for him to play in the Champions League and develop his great skills and i’m not sure in which country or where that will be.’
When it comes to his goal of keeping Villa in the Premier League, Thursday night’s game is a perfect stage on which to do it. Help them win, contribute to them finishing outside of the bottom three and he’ll be remembered as a hero there.
On the making a big move front, conveniently enough it is also a great stage on which to audition. Show off in front of Solskjaer and it might just force his hand.
Souness has made it clear. When it comes to Grealish, he has his questions. It’s time for Grealish to answer them.
-Daily Mail
Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 1-0 to remain top of the Premier League as Arsenal and Manchester City came from behind to win on Saturday.
City were 3-2 victors over Fulham to stay one point behind Liverpool, alongside Arsenal who saw off Southampton 3-1.
Arne Slot has now won nine of his first 10 games since succeeding Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool manager, but was frustrated that the visitors invited a late onslaught from the winless Eagles.
Jota prodded the Reds into the lead from Cody Gakpo’s cross on nine minutes.
The Portuguese international was then guilty of missing two big chances to extend Liverpool’s advantage.
Palace failed to make them pay, but victory came at a cost for Slot as goalkeeper Alisson Becker limped off with a hamstring injury.
“If you score the second you break them mentally,” said Slot. “All the fans kept believing in a result because it was only 1-0, even though in my opinion we were the dominant team.”
Fresh from a dominant win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, Arsenal were expected to sweep aside winless Southampton.
But the Saints shocked the Emirates 10 minutes into the second half when Cameron Archer fired in his first Premier League goal since a summer move from Aston Villa.
The lead only lasted three minutes before Kai Havertz scored for the seventh consecutive home game.
Gabriel Martinelli was introduced after an hour and took just eight minutes to make his mark with a finish on the volley from Bukayo Saka’s cross.
Having set up Arsenal’s first two goals, Saka pounced on a loose ball to score the third himself.
Fulham’s outrageous opener
Rodri’s season-long absence due to a serious knee injury is expected to be a major blow to City’s chances of retaining the title for a fifth consecutive season.
But it was the Spaniard’s deputy Mateo Kovacic who scored twice to turn the game around for the champions at the Etihad.
The visitors had not lost since the opening night of the season at Manchester United and led thanks to Andreas Pereira’s finish from an outrageous backheel assist by Raul Jimenez.
Kovacic’s deflected effort quickly brought City level before a cleaner strike less than two minutes into the second half made it 2-1.
Jeremy Doku then smashed into the top corner from outside the box to give City a two-goal cushion, which they needed.
Rodrigo Muniz gave Fulham hope on 88 minutes, but City held out for a 17th consecutive win against the Cottagers.
West Ham eased the pressure on new boss Julen Lopetegui by ending a run of three home defeats to start the new season.
Michail Antonio, Mohammed Kudus, Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta struck for the Hammers in a 4-1 win over Ipswich, who are still waiting for their first Premier League win 22 years.
There were six goals before half-time as Brentford beat Wolves 5-3 to leave the visitors still rooted to the foot of the table.
Leicester secured their first league win of the season as Facundo Buonanotte’s strike beat Bournemouth 1-0.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag faces a huge match if he is to remain in charge when the Red Devils visit Aston Villa in the pick of Sunday’s action.
-AFP
Premier League
Premier League rejects City request to delay next season’s games after Club World Cup
The Premier League has rejected Manchester City’s request to postpone the first two games of the 2025-26 season to help the players recover after their FIFA Club World Cup campaign in the U.S., the club’s manager Pep Guardiola said on Friday.
City and Chelsea are the two English clubs who have qualified for the expanded month-long Club World Cup set to start on June 15. The Premier League’s season will begin in August.
An increasingly packed soccer calendar has been a concern among a growing number of players and managers. A report by global players’ union FIFPRO said some players get only 12% of the year to rest.
The Premier League did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.
City midfielder Rodri said in September that players could be close to strike action over the time they are required to play. A knee ligament injury has since put him out for the season.
“I don’t know if we will play more games than the treble year (2022-23)… maybe we’ll play less games,” Guardiola told reporters.
“The Premier League has not allowed us to postpone the first two games for our recovery. Thank you so much. They don’t postpone these games so that will be the moment of, oh, what do we have to do?”
He said the Club World Cup will make it even more difficult for clubs to manage player workload.
-Reuters
Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe said a decision about under-fire manager Erik ten Hag is not his call, and was reticent about whether he still has faith in the team’s boss amid their worst start to the Premier League season since 1986-87.
“I don’t want to answer that question,” Ratcliffe told the BBC. “I like Erik. I think he’s a very good coach but at the end of the day it’s not my call, it’s the management team that’s running Manchester United that have to decide how we best run the team in many different respects.
“That team that’s running Manchester United has only been together since June or July. They weren’t there in January, February, March or April — Omar (Berrada, CEO), (Sporting Director) Dan Ashworth — they only arrived in July.
“They’ve only been there . . . you can count it in weeks almost — they’ve not been there a long time so they need to take stock and make some sensible decisions.”
Ten Hag’s job was the subject of speculation for much of last season en route to the team’s lowest Premier League finish of eighth. After an FA Cup final victory over Manchester City and an end-of-season review, however, Ten Hag signed a new contract to extend his stay at Old Trafford until 2026.
“Our objective is very clear, we want to take Manchester United back to where it should be, and it’s not there yet, obviously, that’s very clear,” Ratcliffe said.
Ten Hag continues to plead for patience from fans with the team languishing 13th in the Premier League table, having lost three of their six opening games. They were headed towards defeat by Porto in the Europa League on Thursday before Harry Maguire scored a last-gasp goal to salvage a 3-3 draw.
-Reuters
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