The English Football Thread

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the wizard on it again

 

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Antoine Semenyo is a baller

blows Mudryk away

and would have cost 80m quid less!

London lad too

born in Chelsea

Edited 5 hours ago by Vesper

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Russell Martin absolutely ripping his SOTON side

wow

said they lack courage, desire

Edited 4 hours ago by Vesper

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Cole Palmer’s Match of the Day interview says everything about the BBC’s battle to win over Gen Z

Chelsea player’s performance against Brighton brought comparisons with Dennis Bergkamp – just do not expect him to know who that is

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2024/09/30/cole-palmer-match-of-the-day-gen-z-dennis-bergkamp/

 

Theo Walcott had compared Cole Palmer to Dennis Bergkamp. Then the BBC interviewer relayed this honorific to Palmer, after his match-winning performance against Brighton, as one offering an exquisite jewel to a young prince. Palmer, who comes across like a decent lad if not a lively mind as such, mumbled that it was all a bit before his time although he’d seen some clips online. Subtext: u wot grandad?

 

It was indicative of a problem. BBC’s Match of the Day and, let’s be fair, newspapers are covering this massively popular national obsession and extravaganza but it’s contested by people who live in a totally different entertainment landscape. It was ever thus – I doubt that William ‘Fatty’ Foulke was poring over daguerreotypes of previous footballing eras in his spare time.

 

But it’s all the starker now that the Gen Z players and, just as importantly, their peers who are supposed to be the subscribers and customers of tomorrow are engaging with sport coverage in ways that are totally alien to the people producing much of the content.

 

Dennis Bergkamp! We used to call him the Non-Flying Dutchman you know! That takedown control against Argentina! Yes yes dear, you’ll get your Ovaltine in a minute. Ah, cruel time.

For the older viewer, it was especially bracing in that Walcott himself has been an avatar of apparently endless youthfulness in football.

 

Famously, he first entered the national consciousness when the late, great Sven-Goran Eriksson named in him in England’s 2006 World Cup Squad at the tender age of 17, leading to a mildly deranged media frenzy because he had a girlfriend who was still in sixth form, and lots of articles about how “when Theo was learning how to tie his shoelaces, England team-mate Sol Campbell was already onto his THIRD set of DENTURES… and by the time Theo is old enough to SHAVE, footy fans will arrive at the stadium of the future on HOVERBOARDS” etc.

 

It’s possible that Theo’s boyish, unthreatening looks and polite, you-could-take-him-home-to-meet-mum manner helped him in a playing career that was always very much there or thereabouts without quite becoming the absolute thriller it once promised as he flashed down the wing as a slip of a lad for Southampton.

 

He was a perennial promising youngster, and he seems to have slipped into the role of protege/one for the future on the BBC as well, a recruitment drive that has incidentally become more pressing since Jermaine Jenas banjaxed his own chances.

 

Gary Lineker congratulated him on an encouraging MOTD debut at the end of Saturday’s programme in an avuncular way that you can’t quite see Gary doing with an earthier operator of similar vintage to Theo, an Andy Caroll, say, or a Jill Scott, once her total annexation of all earth’s television programming enters its crushing final phase. Strictly Come Jill Scott. Coronation Jill Scott. The News At Jill Scott.

 

 

For Palmer, Walcott might as well have been Stanley Matthews. Or Bergkamp. Same difference, whatever. The way he referred to Walcott as “Theo Walcott” was very funny, as if Cole was really having to concentrate on who the bloke was and what everyone might be on about and he was trying to cut out all unnecessary risks.

 

Palmer is clearly a player of exceptional footballing intelligence whose capacities are not competing for neurological resources with any other sort of mental inquiry. It is hard to imagine him wracked with confusion about the meaning of it all, unless the meaning of it all is a particularly tricky clue on the Take-A-Break quick crossword.

 

And why should he? He’s the one doing it, the man in the arena. And I recognise that I have fallen, in the previous sentence, into the exact trap I have outlined above. Of course he doesn’t read a newspaper or magazine or do a crossword.

 

Why should he? Why would he? That all belongs to a complete different era. Not Cole’s problem, not his bread and butter, not his area of concern. Like Dennis Bergkamp. Or, horrifyingly, like ickle Theo Walcott.

 

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Riccardo Calafiori is Arsenal’s wild horse – his chaos can complement their calmness

Italian defender has had an all-action start to life at the Emirates since his summer move from Bologna

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2024/09/29/riccardo-calafiori-arsenals-wild-horse-chaos-defence/

 

 

With his galloping stride and flowing mane of hair, Arsenal’s Riccardo Calafiori played against Leicester City like a wild horse on the loose. The Italian is the buccaneering sort, an all-action defender, and for the Emirates Stadium crowd it was a thrill to watch him charging into tackles and flying forward to join attacks.

 

As Arsenal dominated Leicester, but somehow still required a stoppage-time goal to win the game, Calafiori was at the centre of the drama throughout. No player had more shots on target than the left-back, who signed from Bologna for an initial £34 million, and no player won more duels or headers. Over 90 minutes, no player triggered more excitement.

 

To be clear, it was a long way from being a perfect performance by the 22-year-old. Calafiori is not yet a refined defensive product and, in his first few appearances for Arsenal, there has been a rawness to his game that has occasionally put him and his team in trouble.

 

Against Manchester City last week, for example, he erroneously dived into a challenge in advance of Erling Haaland’s goal. And then against Leicester on Saturday, he was fortunate not to be sent off for a second yellow card, after tripping Facundo Buonanotte in the second half. “I got really worried when that happened,” Mikel Arteta admitted afterwards.

 

 

Calafiori’s slightly reckless nature, though, seems to be a significant part of his charm, and it also helps him to stand out as a different option for Arteta. In a defence full of ice-cool individuals — the likes of William Saliba, David Raya and Ben White are rarely ruffled or rattled — Calafiori is the one who can offer a blazing fire.

 

Indeed, one of Calafiori’s competitors for the left-back position is Oleksandr Zinchenko, who is loved by Arteta for his precise distribution and clever passing angles. Zinchenko is the sort of player who helps Arsenal to pick a defensive lock. It seems that Calafiori, by contrast, would rather smash the entire door off its hinges.

 

His goal at City last weekend was a vivid demonstration of these wildcard qualities. When the ball came to him on the edge of the penalty area, most observers would have expected the Italian to cross the ball. Instead, he curled it into the top corner.

 

There is also a stylistic contrast with Jurrien Timber, another full-back in Arteta’s squad. The former Ajax player was excellent against Leicester at right-back. Strong and technical, Timber thrives in small spaces and congested areas. Calafiori, on the other hand, seems to enjoy striding into open turf, eating up the ground in front of him.

 

Calafiori certainly does not lack courage and it is this fearlessness that has endeared him to Arsenal’s coaching staff since his arrival. The trip to face City marked his first start for the club, after all, and Arteta said last week that he would not have thrown anyone else into the deep end in such a way.

 

“With another player, probably I would not do it,” said Arteta. “But because I know how he copes and, when I explained to him, he really wants it, I decided to do it. He has adapted really well to the group, his understanding is exceptional and you see he is a player with an enormous courage and personality to play. He is going to give us a lot.”

 

It is a measure of Calafiori’s personality that he has so quickly embraced life at a new club, in a new country. When a fashion show was held pitchside at the Emirates earlier this month, Calafiori was more than happy to get involved, wearing an eye-catching denim outfit and posing for pictures. The club, as well as the supporters, appreciate such an attitude.

 

 

Over time, Arteta and his coaches will no doubt smooth out the rough edges in Calafiori’s game, bringing him more into line with the slick collective approach they have installed in recent seasons. If they can do so, while retaining Calafiori’s admirable sense of adventure, then they could have one of the Premier League’s most effective and entertaining defenders at their disposal.