Manchester United lost against Arsenal and now Sunday v Fulham is absolutely massive. Can they be Premier League title contenders?
Thank you for all mails not about Alexander Isak. Send more to theeditor@football365.com
Some Friday thoughts from a Man Utd fan
Man United: Sunday is probably the most important game for me in the last 10 years. For the first time since van Gaal we dominated a top team, and for the first time since Fergie we looked great doing it. I know I should think rationally in week two of the season, but also if we beat Fulham convincingly we’re on for no.21. Lose meekly and… tear it all up again.
Managers: Caught some of Carragher and Neville’s predictions for the season and he was adamant that Villa “have a better manager than yous have”. Now, I understand that it is, objectively, true and Emery is (overall) a great coach. But as soon as I think of Emery I think of godawful substitutions that have essentially put Villa into the crippling PSR situation we see today. Rashford against PSG. Bringing on the Chelsea centre back (Disasi?) to play against Doku when comfortable at City. He’s been transformative for them and has reversed the Gerrard damage, but I notice that “he’s a great manager” is hardly ever caveated.
Guardiola: fantastic at coaching the best players in the world to win the league at a canter. Also a specialist in complete brainfarts in important games.
Ferguson: greatest of all time. Built a dynasty from nothing. Scouted his own academy players. Also (reportedly) didn’t coach a training session for over a decade.
Players: I was happy to see Richarlison’s goals at the weekend (the enemy of your enemy is coach driver Richard Arlison) but the link to Palace this week was bizarre. He’s a £60m Brazil International that would absolutely smash it in Spain, being superior in every way to the last moody Brazil International to leave these shores and smash it in Spain. The City midfielder whose name I will not attempt looked good and United’s new signings were sensational. Gyokores was completely manhandled by De Ligt but Matthijs was superb, almost as good as Gabriel who turned into prime Vidic in the last 20 mins when we became direct.
Personal: Even in defeat, Sunday reminded me why I bother with football amid rising ticket prices and Sir Jim’s new bar tariffs (beer up from £3.60 to £5, even Trump would blush). For various reasons I’ve had a shocking year and you forget how it all disappears when you go into the ground. Especially on a nice day when your team plays front-foot ballsy football.
Long live the Barclays.
Simon MUFC
BIG WEEKEND: Man City v Tottenham, Eze, Man Utd, Moyes, Goldbridge
Thoughts on the Bundesliga, Goldbridge and more
I wanted to share a perspective on the Bundesliga partnering with Mark Goldbridge for match coverage, something I think could be a real turning point for football.
It reminds me a lot of how rappers started promoting albums through streamers like Kai Cenat and Adin Ross. Instead of sticking to traditional radio or TV rollouts, they tapped into personalities with direct, loyal audiences. The results spoke for themselves: more reach, and a stronger sense of community around the music.
Football seems to be heading down a similar path. By linking up with creators like Goldbridge, the Bundesliga isn’t just selling broadcast rights it’s embedding itself into online culture. Fans who might not tune in to a traditional broadcast are suddenly part of a conversation, watching along with a host they already trust and enjoy. It lowers the barrier to entry and creates a kind of cultural stickiness that standard TV deals rarely achieve.
Of course, there are valid questions: does this risk cheapening the product? Does it shift too much influence to the streamer rather than the league? Or is it simply the next logical evolution in how younger/ Gen Z fans consume sport?
I’d love to hear the mailbox’s take on it. To me, this feels like a “rappers to Twitch” moment for football, disruptive at first glance, but potentially transformative for how the game connects with new audiences.
Gaptoothfreak, Man. Utd., Lisbon (Anxiously waiting for my front three to score a million goals against Fulham on Sunday)
Wrong about Arsenal
Not that long ago I mocked Arsenal and said they’ll be the nearly men again.
I said this because I couldn’t see Arteta fixing the area which I felt was the problem with Arsenal.
Everyone was harping on about a striker but I actually didn’t think they needed one. Havertz is pretty good at doing the high pressing Firmino false 9, it’s his skill set. But he only Saka as an outlay because Martinelli is just a sprinter with no end product and while I like Trossard he’s not much better. Arsenal’s left was the problem.
Havertz should drop deep clearing space for Saka to cut in and take shots just like Salah and Mane did for us.
But I honestly thought Arteta couldn’t see this was a problem area and assumed he wouldn’t fix it. Until he bought Eze.
I actually think this was the one signing Arsenal needed to fix the one area of the pitch that was a genuine problem. I’d say now that Arsenal are title contenders. Should be an interesting season.
Lee
Palace won; here’s Ed…
It still doesn’t seem right to be able to say “Crystal Palace won a match in a European competition” but it really happened. There’s a lot to like about a game in which you dominate possession as a team that prefers to counterattack, and prevent the opposition having a single shot on target, even if you only win 1-0.
However, this is Palace we’re talking about, so what should be a great moment in the club’s history is overshadowed by unrest and reports of unhappiness behind the scenes. Eberechi Eze did not play last night, something that was disappointing to see but entirely understandable while his transfer to Arsenal is ongoing.
The silver lining to this was that it gave Justin Devenny a chance to start – he impressed at times last season and scored the winning penalty in the Community Shield. Jefferson Lerma started in the back three, a role he’s deputised in previously and made sense against a side where his long passing (and long throw-ins) would be useful.
As the game settled into its general pattern, Palace were generally patient with the ball as they tried to find an opening. There are not many players who can unlock a defence packed that tightly so close to their own goal (just ask Manchester City in last season’s FA Cup Final), and they’d made one of them unavailable for the evening. Most chances were long shots but there wasn’t ever really a sense of frustration that it took so long to score. It always felt like Fredrikstad would be worn down eventually – the way Jean-Philippe Mateta scored, by redirected a shot into a crowded penalty area by Will Hughes, had an element of fortune, but you make your own luck.
During the game, I thought nothing said “Oliver Glasner is keen to add one or two new faces to his squad before the transfer deadline” like seeing Odsonne Edouard come on as a substitute. Edouard made a big impact on his debut but couldn’t cement a regular starting place, then spent last season on loan at Leicester City, a team that went on a huge run without scoring but still didn’t consider him someone who could do anything to reverse that. He looked off the pace last night, and his unfamiliarity with Glasner’s system showed in some of his off the ball movement.
After the game, Glasner voiced his frustrations with the lack of transfer activity this summer, and it feels like a watershed moment for the club, or at least for Steve Parish. Generally, Parish is one of the more popular club chairmen, or at least, he’s afforded more sympathy than most, because of his track record of making tough decisions and take the heat for them if he thinks they are what is best for the club.
This time however, if we frame this as a disagreement between manager and chairman over signings, then there are more people on the manager’s side. With or without Eze, at full strength Crystal Palace can put out a starting XI capable of beating most opposition and competing with the rest. But as a squad, they are a few players short.
It’s a complicated situation and there are valid points on all sides. Parish clearly only wants to use the money from player sales to finance their replacements, an understandable position but it does limit the club’s ability to sign players. At the same time, it’s fair to say Glasner deserves financial backing based on his successes, especially when two signings he specifically identified last season (Daichi Kamada and Maxence Lacroix) were so important to the first team. Going out and getting one of his main targets before the sale of Eze goes through seems like it would be a show of good faith all round.
Muddying the waters further is Palace’s current status and setup. Any signing they make will need to be that team’s best player, someone who won’t be willing to give up a guaranteed starting spot to either wait for an opportunity or fight for one, the way players do when they step up to join the likes of Chelsea or Manchester City. There’s no easy solution, but there’s ten days left before the transfer deadline, so some time in which to address short term concerns about the squad.
Ed Quoththeraven
Newcastle fans want Isak out now
Sick of hearing all the scouse experts giving their insight into why we are deluded and Isak is the victim.
The article from Sarah Winterburn was spot on. Newcastle and Eddie Howe have actually handled the Isak situation in the only way they can. He has decided to not honour his contract and he has decided not to put in a formal transfer request. Like all clubs us ‘deluded’ fans along with our ‘deluded club’ are not happy to bend over and take whatever is offered.
The statement from the club is clear ‘the conditions for a sale have not been met this summer’. Either Liverpool or any other club meet these conditions or they don’t. What else would Eddie say other than we want to welcome him back?
From a fans’ point of view most of us want to see him go. There is no way back for him in my view, if Liverpool want him pay the money. Whilst he is an amazing forward and deserving of all the attention he isn’t even the best player in our squad…that is Tonali. We have a decent squad and while the narrative is that we have had a shocking window, we have actually strengthened some key areas in terms of depth. Obviously having no strikers is an issue but hopefully we can sort something because any decent striker will score goals in our team with the service on offer.
Looking at Liverpool they remind me of a bloke who is jacked from gym work but keeps missing leg day. That defence will not win them the league. Maybe that should be the priority. Looking forward to St James Monday night there is zero pressure or expectation on us….everyone thinks we will lose.
Steve (NUFC)
Make the request
This is all rather silly.
If Alexander Isak wants to leave Newcastle, then he needs to hand in a transfer request.
He will then be financially punished for not honouring his agreement with Newcastle, but will most likely get the move he desires.
If he does not want to hand in a transfer request, then he does not really want to leave as much as he says. Money is his desire, not football.
If he goes on strike, then don’t pay him a penny or sue him.
Ultimately the power is in Isaks hands. Simply write a transfer request, walk into the chairman’s office and hand it to him.
If anyone else wants any common sense advice then hit me up.
Shz
Isak and Coutinho fees both exorbitant
Dave AFC – £142m for Philippe Coutinho has gone down in football folklore as one of the most ridiculously exorbitant transfers in the game’s history, something that most Liverpool fans would be the first to admit. It was a staggeringly savvy piece of business by Liverpool, and is one of the reasons that Barca is in such a financial mess at the moment.
Liverpool used the factors that they didn’t really want to sell and that he was under contract to push up the price.
Which is exactly what Newcastle are going to try to do, but they have lost some of the control that they had, so their position isn’t quite as strong, but if it does go through, they will still get more than he probably worth.
It’s perfectly okay for Liverpool fans to suggest that £150m is an exorbitant price, because it is, just as Coutinho’s was.
I trust this clarifies matters for you.
Mat (looking forward to the return of Gravenberch)
Isak v TAA
James Outram makes a fair point about Real Madrid’s utter shittiness with regards to Trent Alexander-Arnold, but I think he’s mischaracterizing several important things.
I absolutely agree with James that Real Madrid cheated in their contacts with TAA, as they have with god knows how many other players. Real are a cheating, disgusting football club, as far as I’m concerned. They’re so awful that success in La Liga can only come from imitating them, which most clubs can only do on the pitch, not in the market. I assume that UEFA hasn’t slapped them down a hundred times because money and favors change hands.
But then again, that’s exactly what I’m thinking about Liverpool FC right now (not specifically the money part). Any observant person – or Echo reader – knows that Liverpool used the press and his agent to unsettle Isak, and that’s cheating, too. I’d honestly hate to see my club encouraging such behavior amongst its own transfer targets. I’m certainly happy that the first stories about Wissa’s intent and behavior, as with the Gordon transfer, haven’t come from Newcastle-based journalists, and I hope I never find that they do.
A major difference in those situations as they were/are portrayed in the press was that both Real and TAA could afford to be patient. TAA never had to down tools to get what he wanted; he trained and played pretty well while drawing his quite good wages and winning one last Premiership. However urgent the tone of the football press, Liverpool seem to know that they can afford to be patient, too. Their desultory initial offer demonstrated that, although they might fear a January hijacking by City, Real or Saudi. Great Alexander, on the other hand, does not care to be patient, partly because of probably imaginary promises, partly because it’s a World Cup year*, largely because his agent’s only and possibly last chance of a big score.
I don’t believe that James is correct at all, though, when he asserts that F365 never wrote a word about Real Madrid’s behavior in obtaining TAA on a free. It’s possible, even likely, that they never published an article about it, given that underhandedness from Real Madrid is just a fact of life. But as I recall, it was mentioned in innumerable stories on the subject. And they certainly published a lot about it in the Mailbox.
And James needs to get out of here with that last paragraph. Won’t nobody incandescent. Incredulous, maybe. Because an offer of – James supplies the scare-quotes, here – “only” £110, or £40 million below NUFC’s valuation, was insulting to both the club and the player. That’s less than Declan Rice, given inflation. Please.
Chris C, Toon Army DC (*That’s a detail I struggle to understand, by the way: why would Isak want to go into a new squad without even a training camp or foreign tour to bed him in if he wants to star at the World Cup? Eh, it’s his call.)
