Football

The Fiver | Trying not to pull too hard on the threads of an historic parallel


CARLO, LA

You have to feel desperately sorry for Arsenal fans. Their beloved club has been slowly drifting into their greatest period of thundering irrelevance since the 1960s, when the team became such a mid-table non-event that at one point they got rid of their famous white sleeves and nobody noticed they were playing in plain red shirts for two years. Eventually they snapped out of their collective trance, got their gamefaces on (as well as the old classic kit) and by 1971 were champions of England again. Point being, the light at the end of the tunnel is always closer than you think, although as Arsenal won only one more trophy in the subsequent 16 years, and that an FA Cup against a Manchester United team who only turned up for the final at 4.41pm, it’s probably best not to pull too hard on the threads of this particular historical parallel.

But right now the drift goes on. As things stand, they haven’t made a successful managerial appointment since 1996, and could really do with putting an end to that sequence. The hope is to get their former midfielder Mikel Arteta in place. Arteta has been learning the ropes and tasted plenty of success as Pep Guardiola’s No 2, and is perhaps the Premier League No 2 most hotly tipped to make the step up since the days when Brian Kidd sat alongside Lord Ferg at Manchester United. Admittedly Kidd’s career as a No 1 didn’t quite pan out as expected, but you can’t rewrite history, there was a similar buzz around him at the time. And hey, if Arteta’s Arsenal were to go the same way as Brian’s Blackeye Rovers, 100 consecutive years has been a pretty good run.

There’s been no news, though, as Arsenal continue to faff about. However, there’s been no such dithering at Everton, who are desperate to regain their status as the sort of big club whose breaking managerial news isn’t bumped down to the third paragraph of a lame Fiver story during the winding-down period before Christmas. Their no-nonsense appointment of Carlo Ancelotti – to be ratified once he gets assurances over January transfers – may help the Toffees regain their former lustre. He is into the habit of winning trophies pretty much everywhere he goes, after all. Milan, Chelsea, PSG, Real Madrid, Bayern … in fact the only time it didn’t go to plan was at Napoli, when for once he didn’t possess one of the strongest squads in the league, and where they still pine for the glory days of 1987. Erm.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Strikers like me, depending on crosses and passes and playing with the offside line, are punished extremely by VAR … it’s such bullsh!t. Then we have to buy a bunch of Messis who run off with the ball from the middle of the pitch to score the goals. Maybe this is the revenge from the referees sitting in that basement for busting their balls for 20 years on the pitch” – Stuttgart’s Mario Gómez, who has had six goals chalked off this season, is not a fan of VAR, or dribbly little skill-gnomes for that matter.

TOP 100

Yes list-lovers, it’s that time of year again: the 100 best male footballers in the world 2019. Counting down from 100 to 71. And here’s how we ranked them.

Back in at No 72, it’s Marcus Rashford.



Back in at No 72, it’s Marcus Rashford. Illustration: Guardian Design

RECOMMENDED LOOKING

Liverpool and the Club World Cup’s history of violence: it’s the latest David Squires cartoon. And you can buy a copy right here.

FIVER LETTER

“Once again, Nicky Tanner disappoints me (yesterday’s News, Bits and Bobs). When naming his fantasy football team, surely he should have taken the chance to make a wry reference to one of the great own goals of all time? Or maybe it’s still to early to risk reigniting the wrath of Bruce Grobbelaar” – Tim Woods.

Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. And you can always tweet The Fiver via @guardian_sport. Today’s winner of our letter o’the day is … Tim Woods, who bags a copy of Me and My Big Mouth.

NEWS, BITS AND BOBS

Serie A suits are dealing with another mighty mess after signing off on this artwork for its anti-racism campaign. They really did.

In a big day for managerial desk-clearing, Kilmarnock have ushered boss Angelo Alessio through the door marked Do One only six months after he replaced Steve Clarke, while Graham Coughlan has said his goodbyes from Bristol Rovers, fourth in League One, and is expected to join Mansfield, 18th in League Two.

Schalke keeper Alexander Nubel has been banned for four matches after Harald Schumachering Frankfurt’s Mijat Gacinovic about 10 feet into the air on Sunday.

Mason Greenwood might just have played his way into a regular starting role for Manchester United. “It’s very difficult now to put a team out there without having Mason in my mind,” cooed Ole Gunnar Solskjær.

Mr Roy is thrilled that Crystal Palace managed to battle back in the big M23 set-to with Brighton. “The way the game panned out, I think I’ve got to be very satisfied, to be honest it feels even like half a victory,” he tooted after his side picked up a third of three points in a Fiver-predicted 1-1 draw.

And Big Paper has won the Football Supporters’ Association’s newspaper of the year award for the seventh time in a row.

STILL WANT MORE?

Liverpool playing two games in two days (with wholly different players) is one thing, but Ailsa from Home and Away once played for Wales and Bayern Munich on the same day, and in different countries, recalls Steven Pye.

From Prague to Goodison.



From Prague to Goodison. Photograph: Allsport/Getty Images and Colorsport/Shutterstock

“A final against Liverpool. It would be so special!” Flamengo’s Rodrigo Caio gets his chat on with Joshua Law.

Sid Lowe sets the scene for Wednesday’s clásico.

Ben Fisher on Karl Robinson’s preparations for his Oxford team’s Rumbelows Cup quarter-final with Manchester City.

Oh, and if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. And INSTACHAT, TOO!

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ONE MORE SLEEP TILL THE FIVER CHRISTMAS AWARDS





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