I have supported Arsenal to win the Premier League for two consecutive seasons. I was wrong last year and, even after Chelsea’s demolition on Tuesday, there is every chance that Mikel Arteta will be left without a trophy once again.
So would that represent a failure for this team and this coach? I do not think. And here’s why: Very few teams do what Leicester did and win the Premier League out of nowhere. Very few teams suddenly appear and win a major trophy.
The vast majority have to approach and fail. Then get close and fail again before it finally happens. Manchester City had to do that, even after buying all these superstars and pumping all this money into the club.
It also took Liverpool a long time to get back into that position: they had to come close several times. So it’s not failure, it’s growth, and if it’s not this year, Arsenal will be close to doing it again next year and the year after that. This team is young and made to do that. Arteta has found a formula.
Jamie Carragher recently suggested that this Arsenal team could end up being remembered as Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham, a team that won admirers but not much else. I disagree: at some point they will overcome the problem.
Arsenal are locked in the Premier League title race with Manchester City and Liverpool
DailyMail.com columnist Tim Howard has backed Arsenal to win the title for two years running.
Mikel Arteta’s team failed to win the Premier League title after a collapse last season
Any entrepreneur tries to stay afloat. Any businessman will try to keep his team in the most lucrative market in the world. So I can understand why Evangelos Marinakis would try anything to help Nottingham Forest stay in the Premier League.
Could they have addressed this VAR complaint differently? Could the club have completely avoided issuing a statement? Possibly.
But Forest hired Mark Clattenburg and, ultimately, this was what they hired him to do: to make sure that when the club felt aggrieved and mistreated, there was someone inside who knew the ins and outs of the refereeing system.
Is Forest trying to pressure officials? Maybe. But you know what? Everybody is. Whether in public or private, on or off the field of play.
Yes, it was against my former team, Everton. But I see Forest’s complaint: there were three penalty claims and certainly one of them (Ashley Young’s tackle on Callum Hudson-Odoi) was a blocking penalty.
Nottingham Forest issued an explosive statement after their match against Everton
Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis came under fire following the Club’s comments.
The club had identified, and yes, it is an accusation, that VAR Stuart Atwell was a Luton fan and Luton were down there fighting. I understand the complaint.
Now the question is: could they have done it differently? Maybe. But I don’t think we should be surprised. Because that’s why they hired Clattenburg: to make it known that they were going to pressure the referees.
So honestly, I don’t have a problem with that. I know a lot of people do it. I understand that I am in the minority in that and in my belief that football is better if it has VAR. I am a great fan.
We used to complain that the technology was there and we weren’t using it. So now the question should not be: technology versus non-technology. Just: how can we improve it?
Technology is still operated by humans and that means you will make wrong decisions. But in general the VAR works.
Forest were furious after several decisions went against them at Goodison Park.
The introduction of semi-automatic offsides will help speed this up and eliminate human error. And for me, it’s low hanging fruit to complain about it all the time. We would moan if we didn’t have it!
It is evident that Manchester United’s mentality is fragile. It was obvious even before the FA Cup collapse against Coventry City.
You never know which United will turn up. There is no pattern or plan, at least from the outside. So can they play well, be 3-0 up and cruise? Yes. Can they lose that advantage against a championship team? Yes. That’s how they are right now.
The responsibility of any manager is to ensure that his team reflects this. That’s what all the best coaches do. But we don’t see that in Erik ten Hag’s team at Manchester United. Therefore, he will be under the microscope for the next few weeks.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag will be under scrutiny in the coming weeks
Especially given the radical changes Sir Jim Ratcliffe is making to the club’s senior leadership. They were necessary and so is the mass exodus of players.
Will the change of coach solve the problem that has occurred at Old Trafford? Well, United don’t have a great track record with their appointments since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson.
But Brighton did it with Roberto De Zerbi, Aston Villa did it with Unai Emery, Liverpool took a long time to find Jurgen Klopp.
There are many examples of how a new coach with new ideas, new players and a budget can change things very quickly.