Goonerholics Forever

And so to the Stadium of Stone, where we welcome, in the ironic sense of the word, Manchester United for Sunday’s late afternoon game, after three wins and a draw away in four competitions.

It will be the 102nd time we have hosted them for a home league match since Newton Heath first travelled to the Plumstead enclosure, as the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News called it, to be beaten 3-2 by Woolwich Arsenal in March 1895. Our Scottish international centre-forward Robert Buchanan “headed the ball through the Newton goal from a scrimmage, thus giving the Arsenal their winning point,” the publication reported. Memo to Mr Jover: In football, there’s little new under the sun.

After Amorin

Our visitors will arrive greatly uplifted by their victory last weekend over their crosstown rivals under their latest interim manager, Michael Carrick. Shall we see the team that battered the Oil-landers with such combative vim and vigour, or will the wheel of false dawns that blighted the Red Mancs under Rubin Amorim before he was given the heave-ho, turn once more?

Carrick is a go-to for United when they sack a manager. Their former player was caretaker after Jose Mourinho received his special P45 in 2018, and when Ole Gunnar Solskjær faced the same fate in 2021. While he did not manage any games after Mourinho, post-Solskjær, Carrick defeated Unai Emery’s Villarreal, drew with Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea, and beat Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal. 

After failing to be promoted from caretaker to interim — Ralf Rangnick got the job, a decision as idiosyncratic as the choice — Carrick went off to become head coach of Middlesbrough in the Championship. In three seasons, he transformed them from relegation candidates into a team with expectations of promotion back to the Premier League. Having fallen just short of achieving that, he was sacked last July.

At the Riverside and during his previous spell at the OT, Carrick employed a 4-2-3-1 formation that morphed into a 3-2-5 in possession and a 4-4-2 midblock when out of possession. There is nothing groundbreaking in that; a zillion English clubs play that way. Carrick’s twist was to use one of his full-backs, making late runs and early crosses, as the fifth attacker.

On Teeside, he had only one player well suited to the role, and that player was on loan for one season. In the lee of the Manchester Ship Canal, he has one for each side in Amad Diallo and Patrick Dorgu, plus wide forwards in Brian Mbueno, Matheus Cunha and Mason Mount, who are comfortable both dropping deep and cutting inside, leaving the flanks open for the late overlap and fast cross.

In last weekend’s victory over City, it was hard to see that as a core principle of Carrick’s tactics. While he abandoned Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 for a back four with two defensive midfielders in front — the 4-2 element of a 4-2-3-1 — Carrick selected an attacking formation more akin to a 4 than a 3-1 to target the Achilles heel of Pep’s new pressing system.

Pep has his entire team shift to the side where the ball is to create pressing overloads. Coupled with City’s usual high defensive line, this leaves large uncovered spaces on the opposite wing. Carrick had his players firing long diagonal cross-field passes into those vacant areas whenever possible, for whoever was free to chase down and head towards goal or deliver a cutback. 

With City having 68% of possession and United defending with more conviction than they could muster under Amorim, time and time again, Man U looked to counterattack using a long pass out wide. Time and time again, they found one of their quick, powerful runners, the intentionally selected Amad, Mbuemo and Dorgu, with, as they say, acres of grass in front of them.

Carrick, who was a tactically astute player — Louis van Gaal, when his manager at United called him a coach in the game — will know that Arteta will have studied how United dismantled City. He will need to do something different on Sunday. ‘We have got our ideas on what needs to be done and how we need to get there’, he said in his pre-match press conference, slipping effortlessly into manager obfuscation mode. Back to his tried-and-trusted basics, I would expect.

The opposition

The 23-year-old Belgian, Senne Lammens, bought from Royal Antwerp in the summer for €21 million, will be glove-buttling. Dare I say it, he looks an uncommonly sensible piece of transfer business by United’s recent ker-ching standards.

Against City, Carrick replaced the young players Amorim had included in his back three, such as Leny Yoro, 20, and Ayden Heaven, 19 and formerly of this parish, and moved 23-year-old Amad from right back to his natural position as a winger. In their place, was an old-school back four comprising Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martínez at centre-back and Luke Shaw and Diogo Dalot at full-back. 

With the two Englishmen on the wrong side of 30, this is not a long-term solution. However, for now, especially with Matthijs de Ligt injured, it provides Carrick with a more experienced defence than the one that had the seventh-worst record in the league under Amorim. Nonetheless, it remains vulnerable, and I would expect de Ligt and Yoro to be starting by the end of the season. 

If Carrick were sure to be still in post next season — Man U’s omniscient higher-ups had said he will not, regardless, although the gentlemen of the turf don’t believe them; Carrick is second favourite to be the permanent appointment — I would also expect Dorgu and Amad to be groomed as the full-backs. However, Shaw will probably play most of the games this season at left back, as he will be a better third centre-back than Dorgu when United shifts into their 3-2-5. 

Unless Carrick replaces Dalot or the Moroccan Noussair Mazraoui, now back from AFCON, with Amad at right back, he will have to decide which of United’s expensively bought forwards — Mbuemo, Matheus Cunha, Benjamin Šeško and, once he returns to fitness, Joshua Zirkzee — will warm the bench so he can fit in the 23-year-old Ivory Coast international.

Carrick has also reinstated the out-of-favour Kobbie Mainoo in the pivot alongside Casemiro, who, at 33 and £350,000 a week, is not being retained for next season. Que surpresa!

Some believe the next England team should be built around Mainoo’s elite press resistance and ball-carrying skills. However, Amorim preferred Bruno Fernandes in the deep-lying playmaker role, where Mainoo could have fitted into his system. Perhaps Amorim thought nobbiness was necessary for that Paul Scholes-like role. Still, Mainoo would have left this transfer window if Amorim had not departed first.

Deploying the best players in their best positions is usually a reliable fallback for any manager. Against Man City, Carrick played Fernandes as a left-sided 10, where he likes to play. The higher up the field he is, the more threatening the Portuguese becomes to opposing defences. 

Fernandes and Mbuemo shared the false-nine duties of dropping out of the front four to receive the ball and pull a City centre half with them, creating more vacant space in behind. Saliba, who has been frequently appearing near the edge of opposition penalty areas lately, needs to be wary of being suckered into that trap. 

I expect Fernandes and Mbuemo to reprise their City roles on Sunday, with Cunha, Šeško and, let us not forget him, Mason Mount, coming off the expensively warmed bench when United are, hopefully, chasing the game. 

The Arsenal

Carrick will have his team as ‘up’ for a game against us, as it was for the City derby. Thus, I expect Arteta to start his strongest available XI, although I always do, and whether that includes Calafiori and Hincapié is anyone’s guess. Mine is that Calafiori is fit, but not Hincapié. If neither is fit, then presumably Benny Blanco comes in at right back and Timber shifts to the left rather than MLS start.

Raya

Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori

Ødegaard, Zubimendi, Rice

Saka, Gyökeres, Trossard

Sunday’s is yet another must-win game, not least because Neville, Keane and company will be even more insufferable if we don’t. It will be a fierce scrap; these games have previous in that regard. We’ll also have to move the ball around quickly to negate our visitor’s newfound defensive industry, while cutting off the supply lines to what is a potentially potent attack. 

Do all that, and, with the home support behind the team, we can take it 2-0 to secure our first clean-sheet double over the Red Mancs since 1901-02.

Enjoy the game, ‘holics, near and far.

And so to Milan’s Stadio Giuseppe Meazza – San Siro – for our penultimate Champions League league phase game on Tuesday evening in what will be only our fourth encounter with Internazionale.

Our visit will also be among our last to one of the most storied football stadiums, where we have enjoyed highs — the unforgettable 5-1 win over Inter in 2003 — and lows — the 4-0 defeat by AC Milan in 2012. 

After years of to-ing and fro-ing over the stadium’s future, the two Milan clubs have bought their historic home from the city for €197 million. They will build a new 71,500-seat stadium (San Siro has 75,817 seats) alongside the existing one, which they will then raise to make room for money-spinning, sorry, diversified revenue streams from commercial and entertainment facilities as part of an urban regeneration project, as is the fashion these days.

Nuovo San Siro (naming rights to come, lucratively no doubt), will be jointly designed by London architects Foster + Partners and US-based Manica, a sports and events specialist. The firms have worked together before, notably on the striking Lusail Stadium that Qatar built for its 2022 World Cup.

The plan is for construction to start next year, and the clubs to be in their new home by 2030.

The sale was announced just before November’s 70th anniversary of the addition of the stadium’s second tier with its distinctive 11 spiral towers and steeply banked seating. Had that milestone been reached under municipal ownership, Lombardy’s protections for cultural sites would have prevented the demolition of San Siro. 

Regardless of any moist-eyed nostalgia, a world-class venue is needed not only by the clubs, but also by Italian football, which has not staged a UEFA final in a decade because of the ageing state of its stadiums and is due to co-host the 2032 Euros with Turkey.

San Siro dates from 1926 and was built on the model of British football stadiums (i.e., no athletic/cycling track around the pitch, as was the Italian preference). It was originally solely AC Milan’s home. Inter did not begin sharing with its rivals until 1947. 

The clubs had previous. Inter was founded in 1908 by a breakaway group from AC Milan’s predecessor, the Milan Foot-Ball and Cricket Club, who wanted, as you would never guess, the club to take in more non-Italian members. Both clubs’ origin stories are retold in the preview https://www.goonerholicsforever.com/?p=10291 of our CL meeting last season, when Inter was the sole club to beat us in the league phase, extending our sequence of CL visits to Italy in which we failed to register either a win or a goal to five.

Chivu

This season, our hosts have a new manager, Cristian Chivu, a 45-year-old former Romania international with Inter DNA. He won the treble in 2010, playing left back for José Mourinho’s Nerazzurri. After retiring, he coached Inter’s youth teams for five and a half seasons before becoming head coach of relegation-threatened Parma last February, keeping them up with a final-day away win. 

Three days after taking a 5-0 paddling from PSG in last season’s CL final, leaving Inter trophyless for the first time in his four seasons there, head coach Simone Inzaghi departed ‘by mutual consent’. Chivu returned to succeed him, despite having been in charge at Parma for only 10 Serie A games.

Chivu’s Inter youth teams had won trophies. They played high-pressing, positional football, not Inzaghi’s typically Italian, defensively solid, ruthlessly efficient football. So far, at least, Chivu has not deviated much from his predecessor’s core but ageing starting XI or its 3-5-2 formation. With an average age of 28.8 years, no club in Europe’s Big Five leagues has an older squad than Inter. Six times this season, Inter’s starting XI has had an average age of at least 30. 

At a club that demands silverware, Chivu cannot just jettison the players who had got Inter to two Champions League finals in three seasons and had not finished outside Serie A’s top three in four. Yet gradual rejuvenation is underway as tactical tweaks, summer recruitment and Chivu’s integration of players from his youth teams underline.

Testudo

The team plays higher up the pitch with a younger back three now holding the highest defensive line in Serie A. There is more intensity off the ball in the press, and the team aims to control the tempo of games by building from the back. However, once it takes the lead, it reverts to what Chivu calls a ‘tortoise shell’ — a testudo, for the classicists — a deep 5-4-1 that has secured seven 1-0 league victories.

As a result, Inter leads Serie A after 21 games with 49 points, three more than AC Milan and six more than Napoli. It has won 16, drawn one and lost four, conceding 17 goals. That sounds miserly, but it is the joint-worst defensive record among Serie A’s top six clubs, and an indication of the vulnerability of the new high line. 

In the CL Inter sits sixth, losing away to Atlético and then at home to Liverpool after starting with four straight wins. It needs a point to at least guarantee a knock-out qualifier for the Round of 16.

The opposition

Swiss international Jan Sommer should be in goal. The 37-year-old is having an inconsistent season, his last at Inter, but his presumptive long-term replacement, Spaniard Josep Martínez, is injured.

The rebuilt back three comprises another Swiss international, Manuel Akanji, who is on loan from the Oil-landers, 26-year-old Italy international Alessandro Bastoni, who was rested at the weekend amid reports of a move to Liverpool, and Yann Bisseck, a one-cap (off the bench) Germany international, a year Bastoni’s junior. 

Inzaghi’s defence was usually selected from the trophy-laden Bastoni, plus Benjamin Pavard, the 29-year-old French international sold to Olympique Marseille over the summer; former Italy international Francesco Acerbi, now 37; and Netherlands international Stefan de Vrij, 33, who may be off to Geordie Arabia. Their younger replacements give Chivu the athleticism to play a higher line, but the old tortoises still come on to close out games.

Brazilian Luis Henrique, who is lightning fast but has struggled to establish a place since arriving in the summer from Olympique Marseille for €22,8 million, will likely start at right wing back as Netherlands international Denzel Dumfries is recovering from ankle surgery. Italy international Federico Dimarco should start on the left. Chivu has also used left-back Carlos Augusto, a fringe Brazil international, there. 

For his midfield, Chivu has the seemingly evergreen Henrikh Mkhitaryan, formerly of this parish but now 36, Italy’s diminutive international Nicolò Barella and the skilful Poland international, Piotr Zieliński, who has more than 100 caps — and a salary to match that Inter is looking to get off its books. However, Chivu will not have his main man in midfield, Turkiye’s 100-plus-cap captain, Hakan Çalhanoğlu, who is out with a calf injury.

Another summer arrival, 22-year-old Croatia international Petar ‘Luka’ Sučić, who cost €14 million from Dinamo Zagreb, could also make an appearance. Sučić’s bright start has moved him up Inter’s pecking order ahead of Italy international Davide Frattesi, who interests Forest, and Andy Diouf, a summer signing from Lens who played for TH14’s France team at the Tokyo Olympics.

Up front will be the ‘Thu-La’ pairing of the Parma-born France international Marcus Thuram, another rested at the weekend, and Inter’s in-form talisman and captain, Lautaro Martínez. Inter has scored a league-leading 44 goals, and the Argentina international is Serie A’s leading marksman this season with 11. He is also closing in on third on Inter’s all-time goalscorers list.

Chivu has been giving increasing minutes off the bench to two young forwards, 22-year-old Ange-Yoan Bonny, a former France U-21 winger bought from Parma in July for €23 million, and especially Pio Esposito, a highly-regarded 20-year-old striker in the big and strong mould who captained Chivu’s Inter U-19 team. Already capped by Italy, Esposito scored three goals in five games in World Cup qualifying.

The Arsenal

We need a point from our final two games to avoid a knockout round tie and qualify directly for the Round of 16. The higher we finish in the league phase, the more advantageous the Round of 16 draw, so I expect Arteta to start a strong side, despite the need to rest some tired legs. Thus:

Raya

White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber

Ødegaard, Zubimendi, Rice

Saka, Jesùs, Trossard

A match between a free-scoring home team with a vulnerable defence and visitors with a rock-solid defence but a misfiring attack has the makings of a close contest. There will likely be only a single goal in it, perhaps even none. Nonetheless, I’ll back Arteta to win the tactical duel for game control and bring home a 1-0 to The Arsenal. 

Enjoy the game, ‘holics, near and far.

The Arsenal ventured to the heart of England yesterday to play the third in a run of four away games. Our hosts this time were Messrs Marinakis, Edu, and Dyche as we lined up against last season’s surprise package Nottingham Forest in exactly the kind of match we’d want to win for a successful title challenge. The blue half of Manchester had already amused my bouche by dropping all three points against their no-account neighbours but as we all know by now the main course, while not entirely bad, was not as satisfying as it could and should have been in the circumstances. Dessert was the appalling sight of a testicularly ginger blob grinning in an unpleasantly ugly fashion – I have already asked my broadcaster to blur his features in future as it is our duty in a caring society to protect the young and easily traumatized.  It was 5AM so I was obliged to skip the digestif, but after a pleasant night’s sleep and what I must admit was a fairly cursory rewatch I find the only things I can positively report in the cold light of day are

• We are, as of now, 7 points clear
• We kept a clean sheet and didn’t concede a shot on taget
• Er… we didn’t lose

The game itself had kicked-off as a gorgeously fading winter sun set over the wine-dark and yet somehow picturesque River Trent (for those of you who haven’t been or weren’t watching he is employing poetic license or simply lying if you prefer — Ed.) and an Arsenal team sheet that showed three changes from the midweek win against Chelsea. Raya returned in goal as expected as did the slightly less expected pair of Martinelli and Madueke on the wings

Raya
White Saliba Gabriel Timber
Zubi Ode Rice
Madueke Gyokeres Martinelli

Plus, a rich bench menu that welcomed back Mosquera (the returnee that MA had hinted at in his press conference):

Kepa, Mosquera, MLS, Merino, Eze, Jesus, Havertz, Saka, Trossard

Norgaard was one to drop out of the squad for Mosquera’s return.  

1^st half

I suspect that very few of our gentle readers will want to plough through a detailed account of the game and as I don’t want to write one either, I will summarise a few highlights in a forgettable match as best as I can.

The game started slowly, but from about 15 minutes in we started to get on top and at that stage it looked like only a matter of time. The chances came and went, Martinelli’s miss just before the half-hour was the pick of them, but Forest defended reasonably well to be fair and finally got back into the game as half-time approached. Timber (I prefer him on the right) tested my heart function with a risky foul on Hudson-Odoi that the referee correctly called as just a pigeon’s foot outside the area but the free-kick came to nothing. Shortly afterwards Gyokeres was put clean through, but didn’t control the ball well enough and Murillo was able to get back and block the shot. It was then the turn of Raya to cause me a rush of blood with his rush of blood as he sprinted out to deny Jesus, just the once mind, mostly missed the ball but then recovered quickly to punt it out. The half-time whistle woke me from a gentle doze and I hoped Mikel would do the same for The Arsenal.

2^nd half

Martinelli for whatever reason did not reappear for the 2^nd half. Would it once again be Leo Trossard who made the difference? No, is the short answer. And neither would it be Saka, Jesus or Merino who came on about 10 minutes into the 2^nd half when I think Mikel’s limited patience had run out. Off came Ode, Madueke and Gyokeres. Bukayo came closest I thought when he forced Sels into a very good fingertip save with a header, Merino, another regular saviour, should have scored, Eze came on for Zubi, we huffed, we puffed etc etc but we didn’t get a goal. There was a contentious penalty decision that is probably best summed up as 80% given in the CL but only 20% given in the PL. And that’s about it really.

In the aftermath, Mikel coherently explained why he thought it was a penalty and Dyche babbled nonsense as you’d expect. Mikel also summed up the game and I will, as is my wont with a deadline to meet, just steal some of his summary again.

“First of all, credit to them because they are really well-organised”

“But the reality is we created four massive chances (Gabi M, Declan, Mikel Merino and Bukayo) and on top of that a very clear penalty so the fact that we haven’t won the game is disappointing”

“We made a step, a smaller one than we wanted but it’s a step”

I can only agree with all that really, it was disappointing result and no doubt supporters will point to those they see as culpable (insert name of favourite whipping person) but the fact is we tried many players in attack during the game they all failed to put the ball in the net. Manchester City looked leggy and were outplayed yesterday and Liverpool drew at home to Burnley, it really isn’t an easy league!

Two away cup games and now an away day in the PL have been ticked off the list. On to Milan next and the final instalment of the CL group stage, be nice to round it off with a win though to be honest this Milan game is the away trip of least consequence in some ways. Regardless, the lads should be in good heart as there is still all to play for and the rest of the season to enjoy.