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

 

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

Wayne Rooney is a one off: let’s enjoy him for that

TFN’s Hugo Greenhalgh thinks Wayne Rooney should be revered rather than ridiculed…

There was something reassuring about Manchester United’s comfortable 3-0 victory over Tottenham last Sunday. The ease at which United blitzed past Spurs was reminiscent of a Sir Alex Ferguson performance; the kind of game Fergie used to prepare for by telling the dressing room, “Lads, it’s Tottenham”, as Roy Keane revealed in his autobiography.

What will have been particularly pleasing for United fans was the display of Wayne Rooney. The England captain put in one of his best performances of the season, capping it off with a goal at the end of the first half. Picking up Nabil Bentaleb’s stray pass, Rooney danced past the remaining Spurs defenders and stuck it past Hugo Lloris with a nonchalance that recalled a player in his pomp.

The celebration that followed was a wonderful touch of self-awareness. There were shades of Robbie Fowler and Paul Gascoigne as Rooney showed the ability to laugh at himself – as well as the morning papers. It also served as a massive release for a player who has endured a significant amount of criticism over his career. Continue reading

Patrick Kluivert at Newcastle: a lesson in nostalgia

TFN debutant and Newcastle fan Andy Booth remembers Patrick Kluivert’s season on Tyneside…

Patrick Kluivert’s arrival on Tyneside in July 2004 was met with cautious optimism from the Newcastle United supporters. Manager Bobby Robson had compared the capture to that of the revered Alan Shearer in 1996, such was the reputation of the Dutch striker.

He had left Barcelona earlier that summer as the fourth top La Liga goalscorer in the club’s history and was top of the chart for the Netherlands with 40 goals in 79 internationals. Yet he had been released on a free transfer after failing to fit into Frank Rijkaard’s side for the second half of the previous season and had not played a single minute in Euro 2004, in which the Oranje had reached the Semi-Finals. Having just turned 28, he was, theoretically, still in his prime and after a disappointing 5th-place finish the year before, Kluivert was recruited to return Champions League football to St James’ Park.

However it certainly did not work out like that. His one season on Tyneside ended in a 14th place finish and there were few tears shed when he returned to Spain the following summer. But should we be surprised that the move did not work out as the club had hoped (rather than expected)? Even at the time the signing always felt slightly nostalgic. A former star, past his peak, plying his trade in a place he’d rather not be and probably wishing it was 1995. So what went wrong?

Well from a purely tactical sense you have to question whether his style of play fitted with the dynamics of the squad. At Ajax and Barcelona he had excelled playing as a classic number 9. Good with his feet, exceptional in the air, always eager to shoot, he was your stereotypical penalty box striker; a role already filled by the talismanic local hero Shearer. Even at 34 Shearer expected to start every game, and failure to fulfil these demands risked a backlash from the Toon Army, as Ruud Gullit had found out five years earlier. Continue reading

Phil Jones: Still Young and Still Learning

TFN debutant and Blackburn Rovers fan Felix Reed assesses the career of Phil Jones…

Phil Jones has recently found himself on the wrong end of some negative publicity because he’s taken a few corners and pulls a face that launched a thousand Sportbible-worthy memes. However, given that Jones turns 23 next month and that his current contract has less than 18 months to run, it might be time to have a more serious appraisal of where his career is heading. He still has some way to go if he is to fulfil Sir Alex Ferguson’s prediction that he could be the greatest player in Manchester United’s history.

Even as a fan watching Jones make his Blackburn debut as a fresh faced 18-year-old, his talent was apparent. Coming up against the 2010 version of Didier Drogba and Chelsea, his positional awareness, speed and tenacity were remarkable. One tackle he made on Frank Lampard will live long in the memory. When locally-born, 18-year-old academy graduates are making their league debut and absolutely smashing through established England internationals it does tend to stick in the memory. Continue reading

Ravel Morrison has the makings of a Lazio legend

Hugo Greenhalgh believes Ravel Morrison should follow in Paul Gascoigne’s footsteps and join Lazio…

In November 2012, Paul Gascoigne made an emotional return to the Stadio Olympico to watch two of his former clubs, Lazio and Tottenham. Although he won nothing in three, injury-ridden seasons at Lazio, Gascoigne received a hero’s welcome. A banner made by their fans declared: “Lionhearted, headstrong, pure talent, real man. Still our hero”. They had completely fallen for the offbeat humour and swaggering technique of a player who had burst onto the European scene in the 1990 World Cup in their own backyard.

Ironically, the Englishman who may follow in his footsteps to Rome is once alleged to have uttered the words, “Who’s Gazza?”. Ravel Morrison has been strongly linked this week with a move to Lazio and given the stuttering nature of his career so far, there are certainly worse places he could go right now. Italian football could offer a fresh start for Morrison and allow him to come back a stronger player. He is too good for the Championship and other Premier League sides seem reluctant to take a punt on his precocious talent. Continue reading

Obscure Footballer of the Week #7: Ronnie O’Brien

Obscure Footballer of the Week returns. TFN Editor Hugo Greenhalgh profiles Irish footballer Ronnie O’Brien…

How could a nominee for Time’s Person of the Century fade into obscurity? A man whose name at one point, sat alongside Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi? Irish footballer Ronnie O’Brien was an overnight cult celebrity and one of the first true “Year 2k” internet sensations. While the fad wore off quickly and his career was largely forgotten, he merits discussion as more than just a novelty figure but as one of the first European footballers to make their mark in America, in the pre-David Beckham MLS era.

Born in Bray in 1979, O’Brien was a member of the prodigious Ireland youth side that included Robbie Keane, Richard Dunne and Stephen McPhail, and won the U-18 European Championship in 1998. At the time he was a Middlesbrough player but failed to break into the first team and was released in 1999. This was when O’Brien’s career took a bizarre twist. Typically a Boro cast-off of his ilk might expect a move to somewhere like Hartlepool or perhaps back to the Irish league; what O’Brien did not expect was a call from Italian giants Juventus. Continue reading