Matteo Guendouzi’s imperious derby display shows why he is undroppable at Arsenal

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TFN Editor Hugo Greenhalgh on Matteo Guendouzi’s brilliant performance against Tottenham Hotspur…

Sunday gave the world another thrilling North London Derby. In what is fast becoming one of the most entertaining fixtures in world football, it was hard to think of a player at the Emirates yesterday who for reasons good or bad, did not have some sort of an impact on the final result.

It was the 20-year-old with curly hair and the infectious smile who was perhaps the most influential of all. Matteo Guendouzi continues to ooze an impressive combination of quality and maturity beyond his years, and his assist for Arsenal’s equaliser was no less than his performance deserved.

While Granit Xhaka, supposedly a figure of authority and the man entrusted with armband by Unai Emery, looked like a fish out of water and a calamity waiting to happen, Guendouzi showed poise and purpose in the midfield. Xhaka gave away seven fouls, including the rash challenge on Son for Spurs’ penalty which allowed them to affirm their stake in the game. Meanwhile Guendouzi rarely ever went to ground; it’s more his style to make a standing challenge, win back the ball and look to play the pass.

Dressing rooms at any level are often divided along boundaries of experience. Elder statesman command respect and will not always be inclined to fraternise with younger players. Guendouzi’s confidence and attitude means he can cross those barriers. Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, two players at the top of the pile at Arsenal, who can count scores of career appearances and goals to their names, both see Guendouzi as an equal rather than just a junior member of the squad.

They are Emery’s lieutenants and their opinions count for a lot. When you watch Guendouzi put in a performance like he did yesterday, working alongside seasoned players and delivering the kind of service he did, it speaks of a deeper trust and of teammates acting on the same wavelength.

Still so fresh into his senior playing career, former coaches speak of Guendouzi’s hunger and his desire for self-improvement. “He loves football, he eats football, drinks football sleeps football,” Sylvain Ripoll, his manager at Lorient, said last year. For Emery, who preaches the importance of the training ground and of players who do their homework, he must be a dream to work with. “This year he’s starting to give us one step more tactically with the ball. He gives us a lot of control”, the Spaniard said after yesterday’s game.

There is something reassuring about watching a precocious, young French footballer breaking through at Arsenal that – inevitably – harks back to the Wenger era and there are obvious parallels with past players. Lucas Torreira may have been the recipient of Patrick Vieira’s chant, but it is Guendouzi who is now carrying the mantle of being Arsenal’s most effective midfielder. He is undroppable.

Guendouzi plays with a touch of class and a passing range reminiscent of Vieira in his pomp, but he also shares his leadership qualities. Remember his debut against Manchester City on the opening day of last season, when Emery decided to throw him in at the deep end? It was a baptism of fire against the Champions – both for player and manager – but Guendouzi’s confidence shone through.

He was never afraid to ask for the ball, or to attempt something ambitious because of his faith in his own ability. He seems to tackle every game with unfazed determination, as if he does not care whether he is playing against Ligue 2 relegation fodder or Pep Guardiola’s City. 50 odd appearances on for Arsenal and that same drive has remained a constant feature of his displays.

That’s why we shouldn’t call this a “coming of age” performance. The most exciting thing about Guendouzi is that this wasn’t unexpected. Anyone who watched the young Frenchman last season – or even just in Arsenal’s other games so far this year – will have known he had this level of tenacity up his sleeve. He is already so far along in development, it’s almost irrelevant to talk about age.

With the regrettable exit of Aaron Ramsey this summer and the ongoing angst around what Granit Xhaka actually brings to the table, Arsenal are crying out for a man to marshall their midfield. For the time being, no one looks more capable than Matteo Guendouzi.

@HugoGreenhalgh@The_False_Nine

 

How the World Cup helped me grieve for my mum

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TFN editor James Dutton looks back at how the 2014 World Cup helped him at a time of personal loss…

I don’t know what I’d have done without the 2014 World Cup. I owe it a lot. I shouldn’t love it, I should hate it and the time in my life it represents. But I don’t, and all it reminds me of is the enduring power of sport and the unerring truth that the World Cup is the greatest show on earth. It first brought me joy as a 7-year-old. It still brings me joy as a 27-year-old. And four years ago it brought me back from my lowest ebb.

Did it really happen? Four years have passed, reality has had enough time to sink in and yet that irrepressible thought can never be shaken. Maybe it never happened.

It’s childish fantasy. I was there, I watched it happen. I can still see it now. I will never forget it. Woken early in the morning to be told ‘this is it’, and for that to really be it within a few tear-drenched minutes was a pit I never want to return to.

We were prepared for it. Some people are never fortunate enough to know the end is coming. Luck is hardly the right word in this scenario, but we were lucky to have the final few weeks to prepare for it, at home, the family all together. Continue reading

11 things that happened to Dulwich Hamlet this week

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Image: Duncan Palmer Photography

Ben Sibley gives a recap of a memorable week for Dulwich Hamlet…

Tuesday – Meadow terminate DHFC’s licence to play at Champion Hill for “repeated breaches of the licence by the Club, together with unwarranted personal attacks on the company, which has funded the Club for a number of years and without which the Club would not have survived as long as it has”. Dulwich Hamlet are homeless.

Tuesday – On behalf of Meadow, UK law firm Blake Morgan contact Dulwich Hamlet claiming that ‘Dulwich Hamlet Football Club’, ‘The Hamlet’ and ‘DHFC’ had been registered as trademarks on 17 October 2017 and demanded that they no longer be used by the club.

Tuesday – Mayor of London Sadiq Kahn and leader of Southwark council Peter John issue a joint statement urging Meadow to walk away and sell the ground to Southwark Council at market value.

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Hector Bellerin and football’s tolerance problem

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TFN Editor Hugo Greenhalgh tackles one of football’s uncomfortable home truths…

There was a depressing air of familiarity in some of the responses to Hector Bellerin’s recent appearance at London Fashion Week. The Arsenal defender was photographed in the front row of the event, wearing something that looked a little like a dressing gown, with a pair of Gucci slippers. Rather than simply acknowledging a young footballer might want to do something interesting in the capital on a rare evening out, some publications cut a more vicious tone.

Commenting on Bellerin’s outfit, The Sportsman tweeted, “Get him in the bin, shocking that”. Scottish site Talking Baws wrote, “his latest outing saw him arrive in WOMEN’S pyjamas” (the emphasis is theirs). Others tweeted “She’s lost the fucking plot” and “What a twat”.

What is it that the football community finds so offensive about a confident, cosmopolitan young man enjoying himself? The insinuation here is pretty obvious. In wearing clothes that are a little ostentatious and more flamboyant than the average footballer or fan’s, Bellerin is seen to have crossed the threshold of what is considered acceptable masculinity. Between the lines, they’re saying: it’s not straight, ergo he’s gay. Continue reading

British footballer Robin Shroot making strides in Norway

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This interview was originally published in April 2015 for Moresport

Robin Shroot’s career in England was stalling, and he knew it. In any profession, it’s important to keep testing yourself and improving your skills, even if that means a change in direction. Shroot was earning a comfortable salary at Stevenage but internal politics and managerial changes left him out of the side and in search of a new challenge. He found it in the most unlikely of locations: western Norway.

“I was deemed surplus to requirements at Stevenage. I think I just obviously wasn’t the manager’s cup of tea which was fair enough”, Shroot reflects. “I trained with the kids for six months”. At 26 years-old, he felt he’d reached a crossroads in his career and was desperate to play for a club with a more technical approach to the game.

Faced with several unappealing loan moves, Shroot decided instead to cancel his contract and go it alone. Having made one brave decision, he took another and cast his eye further afield in an attempt to fulfil a lifelong ambition of playing abroad. “The opportunity came up to go to Sarpsborg, Brian Deane’s club. I went there for a week and it was great”, he recalls of his first experience in Norway. Deane and his assistant Ian Burchnall, who is now at Viking Stavanger, were a huge help and he took to his new environment immediately. “It was really refreshing to experience a new football culture and I really enjoyed it.” Continue reading

Portsmouth FC: Betrayal of fan ownership or a golden opportunity?

Roger Johns writes a guest piece on ex-Disney CEO Michael Eisner’s proposed takeover of League Two champions Portsmouth…

When Michael Eisner first appeared over the horizon a fellow Pompey fan posed the question “betrayal or golden opportunity?”  

I have held off from answering until now but, having read a lot of what has appeared in the media (both mainstream and social) and listened as best I could to Mr Eisner’s recent charm offensive to community shareholders and Portsmouth Supporters Trust (PST) members at the Guildhall, I now say betrayal; on a number of fronts.

The Club Board.

Firstly let me say that I think they have done a pretty decent job of running the club day to day. They’ve made mistakes here and there but who doesn’t? However, part of the job of a Chief Executive and their supporting directors and staff is to plan for the future.  

It now appears that those plans went no further than waiting for the first apparently reasonable offer from a potential sugar daddy and the chance to get back into their comfort zone of rich owner, fans no more than punters putting money over the counter.  Where was the research into alternative ways of raising funds? Continue reading

Portsmouth FC: Sometimes the right path is not the easiest one

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Portsmouth fan Richard Holledge writes a guest post for TFN on the proposed takeover of the newly promoted League Two side…

In The Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan gives his hero a choice. Follow the blandishments of Mr Worldly Wisemen and take the easy way to salvation or take a harder path to the Celestial City.

Or as Grandmother Willow said in the Disney classic Pocahontas “Sometimes the right path is not the easiest one.”

This is the dilemma facing the supporters of Portsmouth FC. A new wannabe owner is standing at the crossroads and saying: ‘Come with me.’

The temptation set out in the Supporter’s Trust info pack is that ‘one hundred per cent ownership is more likely to lead to a faster progression through the leagues – even to the Premier League.’

Ah, the Premier League, the celestial city of 21st century football.

Maybe. We know something about 100 per cent ownership in Portsmouth. Since 1959 when the club was first relegated that model has resulted in PFC spending a mere seven to eight years in the top division.

100 per cent ownership as typified by a series of incompetents, crooks and clever businessmen has guaranteed nothing. In fact, it is the cause of our present financial difficulties and has – happily – resulted in the club being bought and owned by the supporters.

So what’s on offer here from Mr Worldly Wisemen aka Michael Eisner late of Disney?

No place for shareholders on the board. No place for shareholders at all except on a Heritage panel which can make three decisions – the club’s colours, its name, and an odd pledge not to move the stadium more than 15 miles from Portsmouth.

The latter is a clear indication that a move is afoot. The design of the crest cannot be protected which, frankly, shows a huge misunderstanding of what these emotive symbols mean to a club. I’ll forbear from suggesting Minnie Mouse swinging from a crescent moon as an alternative.

The offer of forums to discuss club matters is very nice but meaningless. It’s a sop. If you own a club, you own a club and no amount of bleating by the fans will change your plans.

The money

Here’s the rub. The offer to buy our shares for £5 million and promise to invest £10 million – in an unspecified way – is not impressive. In fact, it’s a knock down bargain and if accepted does little to advance the cause.

The stadium

We know it’s the albatross left us by previous ‘caring’ owners. It seems we could truck along with current funding but on Page 19 of the statement it says ‘it costs £50 million to build a brand new stadium but there is no commitment by Tornante to carry out this work.’ Nor is it clear whether they want to separate stadium from the company. Haven’t we been there before? We have; a fate narrowly avoided when the fans took the club over.

The statement also admits the actual requirements and the costings of stadium have yet to be finalised. Do we have to build a new stadium in one go? Can we repair, fix and improve as we go along? Build a new Milton End and work our way referring the North /South stand.

In our First Division season of ’87-’88 home crowds rose above 20,000 only three times – we are not a ‘massive’ club we can afford to take time, stay solvent.

The report also makes it clear that plans are in place to see what the costs are and how they could be covered. Perhaps we need the detail on that before we vote.

In all this there is an assumption that we could never be an elite club without big investment. Well, see above, we have not been an elite club since the early Fifties.

It also makes the point that many clubs in the Championship have debts over £50 million and we know most clubs run a horrendous rates of leverage. Is that what we want?

Really? One puff of a wind – maybe a global economic crisis – and would Mr E bail us out like say, Mr Gaydamak, who owned the club when it won the FA Cup (hurrah) but, it transpired, had no actual money (not so good)?

The assumption is that a wealthy new owner will spur the club through the leagues. Older (much older) fans will be aware of huge investment in players in the 70s. It came to nothing.

Younger fans will remember the cynical way one Milan Mandaric bought the club for a knock down price and sold it some years later for ten times the amount without making any serious investment. Then we had the chimera that was Gaydamak.

If our model can get us to the Championship in a few years – boosted by share issues, crowdfunding, bond issues, dynamic marketing – then I’ll be content. After all, PFC is the very epitome of the second division side, always has been.

Above all, we have to ask why. Why does he want to buy the club? He wanted to buy Reading. Which other clubs?

We know what’s in it for us – what’s in it for him?

The fans, particularly the shareholders have taken the pilgrim’s straight and narrow path and are in this for the long run. I doubt Mr E is – that’s just not the way it works in today’s football.

I don’t want to sound too corny but what the club has now is a sense of integrity, decency and community. We won’t be citing image rights over the crest design.

It’s ours. Don’t let it be his.

@RichardHolledg1; @The_False_Nine

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