Finesse - Football magazine - March 2023 edition

CONTENTS

Premier League

Table

Star-Boy

Can Chelsea defy improbable odds to win 3rd Champions League?

The relegation side thriving in Europe

Shadows of the ‘Mentality Monsters’ they once were

FPL Shortlist: The Differentials

EFL Insight

Fixtures

Champions League

The Rise of Napoli: Can they really win the UCL this season?

Interview with Marc Joss

TOBY ROSS EXPLAINS HOW ARTETA’S ARSENAL SIDE ARE FLYING, BUT BUKAYO SAKA IS UNDERGOING SOMETHING OF A TRANSFORMATION INTO ONE OF THE MOST ENTHRALLING PLAYERS IN THE LEAGUE

On a tranquil Friday evening, when Palace fans had filed out of Selhurst Park, Patrick Vieira, the former Arsenal ‘Invincible’ captain, and Crystal Palace manager, went to do his post-match press conference. There, he hailed Arsenal as a ‘title contender’. Everyone laughed: he was ridiculed in the press. This was the same Arsenal side who just a few months earlier were obliterated by a high-flying Newcastle side, and lost out on the Champions League spots to their bitter rivals Tottenham. But 230 days and 27 games later, no one is laughing anymore.

This resurgent Arsenal squad has defied expectations, with marquee signings of Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko redefining the football they were able to play. But no one has personified this Arsenal side more than Bukayo Saka, the Star-Boy who is the poster for the new era of Arsenal.

But what’s responsible for his recent form? And why is it so important for this Arsenal side, trying to win the league for the first time in nearly 20 years.

Left, 22/23 heat-map (SofaScore)

Right, 21/22 heat-map (SofaScore)

Evidently, it’s clear that Saka is more involved in the game this season. With an average of 46.9 touches in 21/22, which increased to 56.8 in 22/23. Those extra touches mean he is ever more involved in the game, often being positioned high and wide to receive the ball from a switch of play. That gives him the space to run at defenders and try and break into the penalty box. It’s no wonder then that he ranks in the 92nd percentile for attempted dribbles, whether he runs straight to attempt to cut the ball back. Or cut onto his left to take a shot from outside the box. As of the international break, Saka is

the only player in the Premier League in double figures for goals and assists.

But what’s changed to allow the England international to hit such great form?

Clearly, Ødegaard’s development as the right-sided No. 8 has made a big difference, but one of the most important things to make Saka more lethal has been the inclusion of ben White as a right-back. Their chemistry is pivotal in a lot of what Saka is able to do: look where he receives and touches the ball now, compared to last year. White’s overlapping runs are much better suited to Saka’s play style, allowing him to drop deep to receive, but also to hold the width and cut inside as white overlaps. This means the crucial areas where Saka is most lethal, where he charges into the penalty box, can be exploited further.

Top, Tomiyasu heat-map 21/22 (SofaScore)

Bottom, White heat-map 22/23 (SofaScore)

Evidently, Arteta favours similar profiles in his players, yet there are subtle nuances in the roles they fulfil, and a particular reason why White is so vital to Saka’s success. Simply put, White is less defensive. Maybe this is because of the strength of Saliba placing less reliance on the full-backs to be a defensive outlet,

but clearly, White does less defending and spends more time getting forward. He can be seen to be especially menacing as he bursts into the penalty box, something Tomiyasu does much less frequently. He will often be seen providing that overlapping run to either free up Saka from the opposition full-back or to provide a pass that allows one of Saka’s trademark dribbles to commence. We saw White’s attacking prowess against Bournemouth at home, with him netting his first Arsenal goal from Nelson’s cross, but this is further testament to the higher, more dangerous positions he’s been occupying.

Then, why is Saka so important for an Arsenal side trying to win the league for the first time in 19 years? Well, it’s really two reasons:

First, he provides an immense amount of output. With 12 goals and 10 assists in the league, he’s contributed the most to Arsenal’s attack. He also brings other players into the fray: the England International has built up a phenomenal relationship with White, Ødegaard, and Martinelli to name but a few.

But it’s the off-field prevalence that makes Saka the Lynch-pin of this vibrant Arsenal side. He is the ‘posterboy’, the figurehead of the Arteta project. The number 7 is iconic, and he will only add to its legacy. After the win against Palace, Saka was asked by BBC pundits how he was feeling about the competitors. His reply: ‘we don’t fear anyone’. And if that doesn’t sum up this Arsenal side, I don’t know what does. The phrase ‘mentality monster’ gets banded about a lot, but Saka typifies all of these attributes and has the skill to back it up. He’s vital for this Arsenal side, and a huge reason they’re top of the league.

So, was Vieira right? Evidently. You don’t sit 8 points clear at the top of the Premier League and not be a serious threat. And it seems, that it will be Bukayo Saka, their star-boy, that gets them over the line.

CAN CHELSEA DEFY IMPROBABLE

ODDS TO WIN 3RD CHAMPIONS LEAGUE? -

AJAN ASOKAN

As of 25th March 2023, Chelsea lay in a lowly 10th place in the Prem, 31 points off league leaders Arsenal. Describing the domestic season as poor would be an understatement, with top 4 a virtually impossible dream at this point. So, with top 4 off the table, Chelsea’s only hope at playing Champions League football next year, will require winning the whole thing this year! Many people would laugh at such a statement given the number of injuries, managerial drama, and domestic season performance yet Chelsea’s past UCL triumphs prove anything is possible. The first of these of course took place in 2012, a domestic season that saw Chelsea place 6th. Yet in Europe, Chelsea was able to defeat European heavyweights in Barcelona (a revenge story following the infamous robbery in the 2009) and Bayern Munich, where big game player Didier Drogba stepped up with a bullet header. The second of these was in 2021 where a Kai Havertz goal vs Man City won us the trophy. Despite this, Chelsea barely scraped 4th in the league partly due to a late Leicester City collapse.

However, if Chelsea were to lift club footballs most prestigious trophy for a third time, they are going to have to beat some of Europe’s greatest. With a Clash against Real Madrid for the third consecutive year awaiting in the quarters, a repeat of the 2021 performance will be needed if Chelsea wants to progress. But the European goliaths of course boast exceptional quality including Ballon’d or winner Karim Benzema, in-form Vini Jr and an incredibly experienced and consistent midfield core of Luka Modric and Toni Kroos. This quality was on full display in the RO16 where Madrid breezed past Liverpool 6-1. However, there are signs the Chelsea team under Graham Potter are starting to gel. With 3 wins in the last 3 games, including a brilliant comeback victory vs Dortmund where a rejuvenated Kai Havertz performed brilliantly in a freer false 9 role.

January marquee signing Enzo Fernandez has

also recently impressed and has quickly developed into the perfect Ngolo Kante replacement that Chelsea have desperately needed this season. Wing backs, Ben Chilwell and Reece James have shown glimpses of being back to their best, further emphasing the importance of them both staying fit if Chelsea are to progress in the competition.

If Chelsea were to get past the 14x champions league winners, a clash vs Bayern Munich or Manchester City would await, the two teams Chelsea famously beat in the final to win both of their previous Champions League trophies. Both teams would provide an immense challenge to this Chelsea squad with Bayern conceding just two goals in the competition. The CB partnership od De Ligt and Upamecano have shown to be defensively impenetrable, pocketing the likes of Kyllian Mbappe and Lionel Messi in the previous round. Manchester City on the other hand, boast a red-hot Erling Haaland who has just smashed 5 past a decent Leipzig side in just 60 minutes, whilst also having an astonishing 28 goals in the Prem. Both teams will require the Blues to be at the top of their game if they want to progress.

Better news for Chelsea fans is that Ngolo Kante has returned to training after an injury which has left him on the side-lines since August. He will need to quickly re-adjust but as all football fans know, a fit Ngolo Kante is one of the best box to box midfielders in the world as proved by his Man of the Match performance in the 2021 UCL final. If Kante can find his old form quickly, Chelsea’s Champions League hopes would rise exponentially. Whilst the draw has been unfavourable for Chelsea, to put it lightly as well as a poor season in terms of results, history shows that Chelsea has the pedigree to battle it out with the best. And If Chelsea are to lift aloft the trophy for a third time, they are going to have to show the winning spirit that has been embedded within the club over the years. While many may see this as hopeless optimism, worse Chelsea squads have completed similar miracles.

THE RELEGATION SIDE THRIVING IN EUROPE

NATHAN CAZIN

Last year West Ham United F.C had an incredible season. Their manager, David Moyes, led them to the semi-finals of the Europa League and a seventh place finish in the Premier League. This superb achievement – Only the second time West Ham had finished in the top eight for two seasons in row since it became the Premier League – granted them a spot in the infamous UEFA Europa Conference League.

Tottenham Hotspur fans generally belittle this accomplishment, yet fail to remember that they were knocked out in the group stage in the same competition just last year, losing to the likes of NS Mura, who currently place 6th in the first tier of Slovenian football. There are 10 teams in this league. Spurs fans also fail to realise that since Marseilles’ European Cup (Champions League) trophy was stripped from them after controversy surrounding corruption in 1993, the total amount of Champions League trophies in West Ham’s Conference League group stage (one, won by FCSB, formally known as Steaua Bucharest, in 1986) sums to more Champions League trophies in Spurs’ Champions League group stage (zero).

West Ham started their Conference League run against a frightening Viborg side who are currently third in the Denmark Superliga. The irons comfortably won this draw 6-1 on aggregate, with an impressive performance from their new signing Gianluca Scammaca, scoring in both games.

This qualified West Ham through to the group stage, where they were drawn against FCSB of Romania, Silkeborg of Denmark and Anderlecht of Belgium. The first game was FCSB at the London Stadium. Unsure of these new rivals, West Ham let the opposing winger Cordea slip through the cracks and open the scoring ten minutes before the break. Moyes must have given the lads a stern talking to at half time as the cockney boys

came back to score three goals in twenty one minutes, ending the game 3-1. This impressive feat only led to more victories, with West Ham beating Silkeborg and Anderlecht later. Jan Vertonghen, the ex-Spurs and current Anderlecht player, received quite the opposite of a standing ovation when being subbed on at the London Stadium.

By the end of the stage, West Ham had become the first team in history to win six out of six group games in the Conference League, yet whilst focusing in Europe, form seemed to slip back at home. By the beginning of November West Ham found themselves in 15th, only four points off bottom. This juxtaposition between the form in and out of Europe confused the fans, and we weren’t sure whether Moyes should be sacked or offered a new contract.

West Ham’s next opponent in the fierce Conference League would be none other than AEK Larnaca, a Cypriot team younger than most of the teachers at our school. Formed in 1994, it is safe to say that playing West Ham would be the biggest moment so far in AEK’s short history, yet we did not take this lightly and quite frankly killed them. The score ended 6-0 on aggregate, humbling the Cypriot team’s dreams of glory.

After Friday the 17th March, West Ham are set to play K.A.A. Gent in the quarter finals. De Buffalos ,as they’re known, currently sit at fourth in the Belgian Pro League, yet they have made the terrifying signing of wonderkid Gift Orban, whom they bought for 3.30 million Euros from a side in the Norwegian first division. The Nigerian superstar has currently scored seven goals and assisted one in only six games, three of those goals being a hattrick against Istanbul Basaksehir in the Conference League RO16. I do not do predictions due to superstition but if I were to guess how the games will go, I am sure they will not be a walk in the park.

SHADOWS OF THE ‘MENATLITY MONSTERS’ THEY ONCE WERE

Liverpool played every game possible for them last season and were at the final steps of winning a magnificent quadruple until they fell short at the last two hurdles. However, the magnificent run that they went on may have papered over the cracks, which have unravelled this season. Liverpool dropped very few points last season, but when they did the midfield didn’t have the quality it needed – as for most of those games Thiago Alcantara was injured and the likes of Milner, Keita, Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Curtis Jones had to fill in alongside Fabinho and Henderson. In Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with Brighton last season the midfield of Henderson, Keita and Jones started the game, which is not exactly title winning quality. This showed that midfield investment was needed in the summer, to make sure we had quality depth when the inevitable injuries start to pile up.

This failed to occur, despite the purchases of Darwin Nuñez, Calvin Ramsay and Fabio Carvalho, Liverpool initially failed to sign a midfielder as Klopp claimed they did not need to sign one due to the numbers he already had at his disposal, and even claimed Harvey Elliott was like a new signing after he recovered from his long-term ankle injury. Despite all of these claims, when the inevitable injuries did come rolling in, in the midfield department, Klopp admitted his mistakes and claimed we did need to sign a midfielder. Which led to the panic loan signing of Arthur Melo from Juventus, who was lacking match fitness and then sustained a long-term injury, and he hasn’t played since.

The lack of legs and energy in the midfield especially, but the team in general, has caused Liverpool to fall short in so many games this season. As they are unable to counter-press, win the ball back high up the pitch and finish off their chances which they would usually get from this.

Instead, there press is easy to bypass, the midfield is easily ran through on the counterattack, and the opposition team looks like they are going to score with nearly every attempt when they attack our frail defence. Liverpool’s owners, FSG failed to invest in the midfield and reinvigorate it, which may have led to Klopp’s dismissive comments as he knew the money wasn’t available. The money set aside for Tchouaméni who went to Real Madrid was most likely used on Nuñez, so it seemed to be either replace Mané or add to the midfield. Which is simply unacceptable for a team who wants to sustain being at a high level and always be in the race for every trophy available, as both had to be done.

Some players may have found it difficult to just ‘kick on’ after playing in the majority of Liverpool’s 63 games last season, however that excuse could be used at the start of the season, but we are now in March and the performance levels have been simply unacceptable. It is very easy to blame FSG for their lack of investment but the players and also Klopp and his staff have to take some of the blame. There are a few key examples of players who may be burnt out, but some of the performances as a team that they have put in this season have been dreadful. One example is Fabinho – his 13-minute cameo against Brighton in the FA Cup, where he probably should have been sent off is probably the worst pick of the bunch. He has not been the ‘lighthouse’ as he was in previous seasons. Despite Henderson’s high pressing at the World Cup, he has not reached the heights of his performances from previous seasons, which has caused him to be dropped or rarely play a full 90-minute game. Virgil van Dijk still hasn’t reached his pre-ACL injury levels, although it is unfair to expect him to as he himself has admitted he may have played too many games with hardly any break – the only real break was his layoff

THE CAUSES OF LIVERPOOL’S POOR SEASON - DYLAN GUDKA

with the hamstring injury he sustained, and so he has not been performing to his very high standards. Trent Alexander-Arnold is a talking point of many rival fans and pundits, who ridicule his defending – which has indeed been very poor at times this season. However, due to the system Liverpool play in, he is expected to attack and create chances but then also defend when the opponent counterattacks. Which can be very hard to do well for player lacking in confidence, and with the support Henderson used to give when he did bomb forward lacking this season. Although the attitude and effort he has shown in some games has been appalling. The two shining lights from a player’s point of view has been Alisson, who has performed excellently the entire season, and has also prevented the most goals out of any premier league goalkeeper this season and Bajcetic’s rise to the starting eleven, before he sadly sustained his season ending injury.

Now moving on to Klopp and his staff, one of the main and clear criticisms this season has been their substitution’s which in most games has led to complaints from Liverpool fans. For example, in Liverpool’s 1-0 away defeat to Bournemouth, Klopp subbed off Trent our main creative player, for James Milner when we desperately needed a goal. He then took off Darwin Nuñez who had a decent showing instead of Salah who had barely been involved the entire game and also missed our only penalty of the whole season, despite his brilliance it was a very poor game from him. These subs are vital when we are losing, and as we seem to be in that position most of the time, Klopp and his staff need to get them right.

The most thrilling part of the season was obviously our annual thrashing of Manchester United – 7-0. Although once again Liverpool’s inconsistency shone through as the next week, we lost to bottom of the table Bournemouth 1-0, which has just been the tale of our season – beating rivals then losing to a relegation team. Although we are still in the race for Top 4, and the first week of April is season defining. As not getting top 4 will most likely affect our summer activity.

The problems have also reached boardroom level and with key staff that help run the football club. There has been uncertainty and change the entire season, as Julian Ward who was Michael Edward’s replacement as Sporting Director announced he is departing from the club just a year after taking the job. He now is reportedly taking the Ajax sporting director role. Dr Ian Graham, the director of research also announced he is leaving Liverpool at the end of the season after 13 years at the club – which is a massive loss for Liverpool. Remarkably,

Liverpool started the season without a club doctor as Jim Moxon departed a week before the season got underway – which could be an underlying factor for why Liverpool have the most games missed through injury with 162, which is going to increase with Bajcetic’s season ending injury and Thiago’s prolonged absence. Liverpool’s new club doctor Jonathan Power only started his work at the beginning of 2023. The biggest turmoil was caused by FSG supposedly putting the club ‘up for sale’ – which led to uncertainty amongst fans about what would happen come the end of the season, like the finances available and when a new sporting director will be appointed. The biggest change resulting from this was Mike Gordon, who has a strong relationship with Klopp, stepping away from his day to day running of the club to seek investment opportunities with some of his power being transferred to CEO Billy Hogan. Although John Henry recently stated Liverpool is not for sale, and since Mike Gordon has returned to his original role.

It is not an understatement to say that this summer is make or break for Liverpool, as if FSG do not give Klopp the investment he so desperately needs to bring this team back to the highest of levels then it will be increasingly harder to compete with the likes of City, Chelsea, United and Arsenal with the spending power they have. It may even get to the point where Liverpool fall so far away from the pack – that not even Klopp can perform miracles anymore. Not to mention the disappointment amongst Liverpool fans if Jude Bellingham isn’t playing in front of the Kop come August despite us wanting him for the past two seasons, and supposedly pushing the midfield makeover back just for him. This summer is vital.

laut Shadows of the Mentality Monsters: the causes of Liverpool’s poor and inconsistent season - Dhilan Gudka

to do well for player lacking in confidence, and with the support Henderson used to give when he did bomb forward lacking this season. Although the attitude and effort he has shown in some games has been appalling

FPL SHORTLIST: THE DIFFERENTIALS

FPL fanatic Zain Barlas gives an insight into his top 3 differentials for April 2023

Dango Ouatarra- £5.0m

Ownership: 0.1%

Next 5 gameweeks: FUL + BHA | LEI | TOT | WHU | SOU

So, to kick things off, the first player I want to highlight is a huge differential: Dango Ouatarra who summarises Bournemouth’s performances in the Premier League this season; sometimes impressive but lacking consistency. However, since his debut in Gameweek 21, he has put up some (note the inclusion of the word some) impressive underlying numbers meriting an XGI of 0.60 against Arsenal, 0.47 against Liverpool and 0.57 against a highflying Brighton also translating these numbers to real life effect garnering 3 assists and 18 FPL points in 3 games. However, the issue with Ouatarra is a lack of consistency as he seems to be one of those players who seem like world-beaters one game but extremely subdued the next. For this, I’d say he should be someone to monitor for now however that being said, over the next 5 gameweeks, he plays 6 times with a double Gameweek 29 starting on 1st April and with a ridiculously low ownership of 0.1%, if you need an explosive differential to rise up your mini-leagues, Dango could be your man.

Tyrone Mings- £4.3m

Ownership: 4.7%

Next 5 gameweeks: CHE + LEI | NFO | NEW | BRE | FUL

Whisper it, but I think Tyrone Mings is a little bit of a bargain. The 6ft 6in enforcer has been a rock at the back for an improved Villa since Unai Emery

took over in November 2022 for a 3-1 win against Manchester United (as a United fan that hurt me deeply to remember that). Since then, Villa have only lost 4 of their last 13 games losing understandably to Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and then a blip against Leicester. In that period of 13 games, Mings has got 2 assists to his name picking up 5 clean sheets and 8 bonus points. This is pretty impressive stuff for a defender let alone a centre-back and he has the fixtures to prosper in the future too with a double gameweek and then some competitive yet winnable fixtures with a lovely “green 2 ” rated fixture according to the FDR (Fixture Difficulty Rating) against Forest in which he has a potential to drop another 12 point haul caused by Villa’s defensive compactness and disciplined nature and a Mings xG of 0.27 (in contrast Ivan Toney’s was 0.16 in the same gameweek)

Ranked as the highest value defender in terms of form according to the FPL website and in Gameweek 28’s team of the week, could Mings carry on in this rich vein of form over the immediate future solidifying his place as a underrated FPL asset? Well stranger Mings have happened...

Eberechi Eze- £5.4m

Ownership: 2.0%

Next 5 gameweeks: LEI | LEE | SOU | EVE | WOL

I don’t know if it’s just me but Crystal Palace assets seem to be a double-bladed sword; they always seem to perform when they are not in your team as exemplified perfectly by FPL Enemy No.1 Wilfred Zaha.

However, I am making the huge risk to recommend a Palace asset despite their seemingly poor recent form. The reasons for this are threefold. The first is that I’m predicting Palace to have a new manager bounce when a replacement for the sacked Vieira is found. The fact that there is a couple week gap between gameweeks 28 and 29 allows time for a suitable replacement to be found with the bookies having Roy Hodgson as frontrunner. Hodgson is a manager who understands Palace after managing them from 2017-2021 and will likely give creative outlets like Eze and Zaha scope to roam around freely and create chances. These chances are exactly what goal-shy Palace needs with Palace scoring only 4 goals since Gameweek 20. However, earlier in the season, Eze along with compatriot Olise seemed to be involved in the vast majority of Palace’s goals; the former grabbing 4 goals and 3 assists and the latter getting 2 goals and 5 assists. I believe that Hodgson will bring some optimism and clear ideas to a decaying Palace and therefore attacking-minded players like Eze will prosper over a good run of winnable games rated 2 and 3 on the FDR.

I myself am considering buying Eze in order to get an aggressive upward rank swing to try to break into the top 500K globally for the reasons above and Eze can act as a method not to break the template but rather chip away at it a little providing an asset that very few of your mini-league competitors will own.

An investment in a Crystal Palace attacker could bear great fruit and with Eberechi, it’s never been more Eze.

EFL INSIGHT

THIS MONTH I SPOKE TO CLUB CAPTAIN DARREN PRATLEY AND HEAD COACH RICHIE WELLENS FROM LEYTON ORIENT, WHO SIT COMFORTABLY AT THE TOP OF LEAGUE 2. PRATLEY HAS ENJOYED A CAREER AT EVERY LEVEL, PLAYING FOR PREMIER LEAGUE SIDES

BOLTON AND SWANSEA NOT TOO LONG AGO, WHILST WELLENS WAS AN INTEGRAL PART OF A LEICESTER’S CHAMPIONSHIP SIDE. I CAUGHT UP WITH THEM AFTER A 1-1 DRAW WITH MIDTABLE SWINDON TOWN EARLIER THIS MONTH, A THRILLING ENCOUNTER AND ONE THAT EXHIBITED THE PURE PASSION AND DESIRE OF THE TEAMS LOWER DOWN THE PYRAMID. SWINDON FOUGHT BACK TO EARN A POINT THROUGH JACOB WAKELING AFTER OMAR BECKLES HAD HEADED HOME EARLY ON. JODY MORRIS, FORMER CHELSEA CAPTAIN AND THE ROBIN’S CURRENT BOSS, ALSO GIVES ME HIS THOUGHTS POST-MATCH:

What did you make of the performance today?

‘In the first half I thought we were the better team, second half we didn’t do what we did in the first half in terms of turning them and making them go back towards their own goal. But in the end, it’s a point towards our total and we’ll move on now to Mansfield.’ (which was postponed due to weather conditions)

What do you think it was that was lacking about the performance today? – do you think it was a case of the opposition being very resolute, or was there a sharpness in front of goal that you didn’t have?

‘No, I think like I say first half we played well, good performance against a good Swindon side. Second half we didn’t go in behind as much as

we should have and turn them, and in the end we get punished with a goal at the other end. But it wasn’t a bad performance, it’s a point towards our total – its hard to win football matches in this league, and we go onto the next one’

How do you adapt to playing in this type of environment in League Two, given you’ve played at the top of the game; how do these types of games differ for you?

‘Yeah, at the end of the day it’s still a game of football, obviously in League Two everyone rats around, you probably don’t get as much time as you do in League One or Championship, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it, I’m at a good club to try and play the right way so it hasn’t been that much different’

Do you think that should have been a penalty at the end? (challenge on Paul Smyth)

‘Yeh, but the thing is sometimes with Smythy because he’s too quick sometimes for his own liking, the referee won’t give it, but Smythy does that all the time, especially in training or in games, he’s that quick that he can get across you. It looks like he’s diving, but he’s put his foot across, the boy’s caught it, and for me it was a penalty but it didn’t get given, hopefully we get one and it will even itself out for us.’

In terms of ambitions, you guys are of course leading the league, looking like you’re going to get promoted. From there, are you looking to make a way for yourselves in the cups, after falling short at the early stages this year – what’s the future looking like for the club?

‘Still got eleven games to go, so we have to get over the line first – that’s our main focus is thinking about getting over the line, we’re not there yet so our main aim for this club is to try and get into the next league. Whether that means missing out on the Papa Jonh’s cup or EFL trophy or whatever it is, I think we’ll take that.

Richie Wellens

‘Was there anything else that could have been done to get the win today?

‘I think because they changed and went five at the back, every time we got to the by-line quite a lot, you know there’s a lot of bodies there. Our decision making, our quality has to be a little bit better in the final third, but the amount of balls that were flying through the box was a lot, we just need to be on the end of them more.’

Was there a point where you were content with consolidating the one point, when you made the defensive change near the end in Adam Thompson – is that something you have to bear in mind in a game like this?

‘It wasn’t planned, it was just that Ruel was cramping up and we had already put our attacking players on, so my other two options were Shadrach Ogie or Adam Thompson, and it allowed us to put Craig back in midfield. In no way was it a negative thought process in taking a point. Listen, if you’d have offered me a point after 60/65 minutes when they had that really good ten minute spell, then would I have taken it, maybe. But I think you could see in the last fifteen minutes there was only one team trying to win the game.’

You were four points off of relegation when you took over, the change has been astonishing since. You’ve spoken a bit about how Alex Ferguson had an impact on you from the time you spent with him, how have you used that to inspire the teams you have managed?

‘I wouldn’t go too big on the Alex Ferguson! In terms of playing under him it was just training sessions and watching the way he works, but then more when I left the club, seeing how he built a winning machine, how he built several teams. You look at the top, top managers, you look at Klopp now, he’s probably had one winning team and he’s coming to the end of that cycle with that team, and it’s difficult to go again with another team. Sir Alex Ferguson did it with four or five teams, and he’s probably the benchmark for the majority of British managers, and I just like his ruthlessness, his desire to win, the way that his teams never gave up, the amount of late goals that his teams produced, and obviously the silverware that his team produced’.

Jody Morris

A very hard fought, well earnt point today – I’m sure you would have taken that if you were offered it before the game – what did you make of the performance?

‘One, to be proud of. It was, like you say, a hard-fought game and a difficult one where we had to survive many difficult moments, but I think with all the injuries we faced and with all the players off with illness and stuff, the fact that you come to the number one team in the league, who have got an extremely good home record, to come away with a point; I think you’re definitely right that we would have maybe taken that before the game. It was pretty pleasing’.

Seven points in your last three games, does this really prove that you can compete with the big boys and that you should be striving for Play-Offs this season?

‘I mean I felt that we should have had more points, to be fair, than we have had at the moment, but like I said the points tally doesn’t necessarily tell the full story of what we’ve been facing. At the same time, I think

if we can keep improving like we have, then I think we’ll have a good chance of picking up a lot more points between now and the end of the season. Whether or not we’ll face even more problems with injuries and stuff like that we’ll have to see, but I’m certainly please to come to the number one team and pick up a point.’

What would you say you’ve learned from your time as assistant manager at Derby and Chelsea that you’ve managed to instil into this set of players, this resilience and belief we saw today?

‘Well I think I’ve been learning from not only the time that I’ve been retired as a player, but even as a player. I mean you’ve got to try and get the most out of individuals, you’ve got to try and see what makes them tick and you’ve also got to see which ones you have to be demanding of. So, I think that’s something that I’ve been grasping the older I’ve got, and then the fact that I’ve been coaching now for sort of going on eleven years, since I retired, It’s certainly one that you always try and build on but it keeps changing all the time because you then work with different players, everybody has a different kind of motivation or different level of mentality, and I think you’ve got to try and work with every individual group that you have and individual players differently. There are certain things that are nonnegotiable and you want to be demanding in certain areas that shouldn’t change, whatever level you’re working at. But at the same time if you can pay attention to what individuals need but then maintain the group ethic of working hard and trying to improve, then you’ve got a good chance.’

From your time as both a player and manager, does the latter come at all close in terms of enjoyment?

‘’I would always say I prefer playing, purely and simply because for me it’s the best sport in the world. But if you’re looking for close seconds in the same sport, then when you’re in charge of a group of players that are trying to put into work your game plan and all working together for the same goal that you’ve worked on throughout the week, then there’s a close second as far as if you’re on the sidelines and managing to get good performances or good results with players that you see work hard day in, day out’. improve, then you’ve got a good chance.’

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE.

ROUND OF 16.

TUESDAY 11 MARCH

Benfica

Inter Milan

Man City Bayern

WEDNESDAY 12 MARCH

Real Madrid Chelsea

AC Milan Napoli

THE RISE OF NAPOLI: CAN THEY REALLY WIN THE UCL THIS SEASON?

ALI HASSAN

Whilst many will argue what has been this season’s biggest surprise, whether it’s Arsenal’s unprecedented rise to the top, Will Still at Reims and his infamous unbeaten streak, or Liverpool’s incredibly sharp decline, the story of Napoli should not be overlooked. Luciano Spalleti’s men have performed exceptionally so far this season, with the Serie A all but wrapped up, the question on everybody’s minds is whether they can go that one step further and give fans the fairytale story that they’ve dreamed off for decades.

First let’s start this piece with a bit of context, and explain the situation Napoli find themselves in. The last three seasons have seen Napoli finish 3rd, 5th and 7th respectively, nothing remarkable, and nothing to suggest drastic improvement, although they did win their most recent piece of silverware in that 19/20 season with the Italian Cup. Furthermore, this was a team in transition (supposedly), losing their all-time top scorer Dries Mertens, veteran defender Kalidou Koulibaly, midfield architect Fabian Ruiz and club captain Lorenzo Insigne. To many this would seem a minor crisis to lose the spine of a team with so many experienced heads departing all at the same time. However, Napoli remained calm and completed some very efficient transfer business with the smart acquisitions of a few key players. Kim Min-Jae from Fernebache for £15 million may have raised a few eyebrows at the time, as it’s rare to see players being signed from Turkey, usually seeming them go the opposite direction. Despite this, the transfer could not have gone better so far, already being heavily linked to clubs such as PSG and Manchester United and his manager calling him the “best in the world”(in his position). However, with a reported €50 million release, Napoli will be praying that they can offer

him a new deal before he gets snapped up at a price which would now look like pennies compared to what they would otherwise get from him. Similarly, Frank Zambo-Anguissa for £13 million may have confused a few Fulham fans who would have seen him struggle at their club, yet it now looks like a shrewd piece of business for the league leaders. Last but not least and the slot reserved for the top summer signing, Khvicha Kvaratshkelia. Undoubtedly one of, if not Europe’s biggest breakout star this season, Kvaratshkelia has been one of the most enjoyable players to watch, his dynamism, flair and directness are reflected in his phenomenal stats this season with 12 goals and 10 assists coming in the League and a further 6 contributions in the Champions League. Kvaratshkelia is proof of what good scouting can get you, signed for just £8 million, Napoli could easily ask for well over £100 million in today’s market. Napoli have been seemingly able to transition away from their old guard of players, find much cheaper and younger solutions, and have them perform instantly. It has been a truly brilliant campaign for Napoli on and off the field for this reason and it remains to be seen whether they can complete what would go down as their greatest ever season if they can achieve European glory.

To win the Champions League you not only need a strong core of players, a competent coach and a passionate set of fans behind you, every European Cup winning team needs to have that marquee player that drags them through tough situations. In Napoli’s case, it has been the breath-taking Victor Osimhen. With 25 goals this season, it has been the Napoli number nine who has taken centre-stage and shown the world what he is all about. Signed for a very hefty £70 million in the Summer of 2020, it has taken a while for Osimhen to showcase

his talents, haunted by injuries and an ever-changing starting lineup, this season he’s finally been able to get consistent game time and repay that big transfer fee that his club invested in him. Fast, good in the air, able to bully his opponents and even link with the rest of the attack, he seemingly has it all. His partnership with Kvaratshkelia has undoubtedly been at the centre of their title charge with the duo combining on multiple occasions to propel Napoli, at the time of writing, to a 19-point lead with a goal difference of +48 after 27 games played. Osimhen recently produced a Man of the Match display in the UCL Round of 16, scoring three goals across the two legs as Napoli comfortably sailed past Eintracht Frankfurt. If people hadn’t noticed already, it was at this stage that Osimhen was now recognised globally, and everybody will keen to see how he finishes this season. Napoli will almost certainly win their first Scudetto since the late great Diego Maradona delivered success in 1990, and the long 33 year wait will finally see the title return to Naples. Their only ever taste of European success was in 1989 when, once again, Maradona led them to the UEFA Cup (equivalent of the Europa League). Surprisingly, this is Napoli’s first ever

time reaching a Champions League quarter final, but with a very favourable tie against the struggling, yet familiar opposition in AC Milan, Napoli will surely be licking their lips and eyeing up a route to the final which would see them play either Benfica or Inter Milan. The path to glory has never looked clearer to Napoli and it’s hard to argue that they will ever get such a straightforward route to the final avoiding any of the European heavyweights. They are certainly more than capable, they have the players, they have the individuals and a path to the final which they will never get again. A final is one-off game where status and reputation mean nothing, the opportunity is there, it is now down to them to grab it with two hands and bring a jubilation that will triumph that of Maradona’s time to the football-obsessed city of Naples.

INTERVIEW WITH MARC JOSS

job is, sounds absolutely perfect for me. I applied and was very confident. But I never heard back. An initial lesson, there is things do change and if you have an initial disappointment, don’t let that hold you back.

After this setback, did you consider trying a different career?

MARC JOSS

Renowned as one of the top football translators and interpreters in the world, OH Marc Joss speaks to us about his experiences in the industry, working on extremely high profile books with some of the best in the game and some of the more savoury personalities he has encountered in the footballing world!

It was a pleasure to discuss everything from Diego Costa to AI translators. Marc’s journey highlights how powerful and useful language is, and how his skills have been utilised in an area he is so pssionate about.

How did you develop your love for languages and football translating following your time at Habs?

At Habs, I studied French and Spanish from 11 and Italian from 15. I ended up going Birmingham to study all three. At Uni, within the Spanish department, there was the option to study Portuguese as well, so I ended up doing all four for my degree. I had two academic years teaching English as a language assistant: one year in Madrid and one year in Paris. After that, I ended falling into football translation without necessarily really knowing that it existed, which was very lucky. First of all, Guillem Balagué - Spanish football expert, pundit, writer, journalist - had posted that he was looking for someone to work for him, someone who: spoke Spanish, was a native English speaker, ideally had some translation experience and knew about football and websites. And I thought, oh, wow, that really could be me. I love football, watched La Liga and Spanish is my favourite language so, yes, please! Whatever that

Several months after that, I bumped into Guillem Balagué at Luton Airport passport control by chance, so I don’t complain about long passport control queues because that was a big part of my career! And we let a few people go past in the queue and waited for him and then sort of said I struck up a conversation and said: “I applied for a job with you. I speak Spanish, I love football, I love La Liga. Who did you get to do this job? Why didn’t you choose me?” And he told me a bit about the job and it didn’t sound as great as it had seemed at the time and there was a bit more sort of admin and a bit less fun involved. So I thought, okay, maybe it was a good thing they didn’t choose me. It might have just been disappointing anyway. And he said: “But I am currently writing an authorized biography of Lionel Messi in Spanish. I’ve got one translator working on it, but the deadline is very tight and I might need another translator. So send me your CV and I might be in touch.” Three months later, in September, I got a call on a Thursday evening from his translator saying: “Hi Marc, this is GM’s translator. Just wondered if you’re available over the next few days because I’ve got a chapter of this book for you to translate. It’s 12,000 words and we need it by Monday. Is that doable for you?” I had no idea what 12,000 words even meant because the longest thing I’d ever done at university was about 2,000 words. But I said: “Yeah, of course, please send it over. I’ll get started right away. The deadline is no problem, I can do it. Yeah, great.” I got this email, opened it up. I’m an Arsenal fan and the very first paragraph was about Barcelona beating Arsenal in the Champions League final in 2006. I thought, oh wow, how have they chosen this chapter for me? This is so painful. How can I possibly do this? And it was actually great. And I

did manage to translate a really long chapter with a very short amount of time. And it was also with the help of another Old Haberdasher called Hugo Steckelmacher,who had been two years above me at Habs and was amazing at Spanish and French and was very present online because he was blogging and doing all sorts about Spanish, English, football, vocab articles. So, again, the power of Habs was absolutely crucial in this for me because from doing research myself on the chapter that I had, I saw that Hugo was the man to speak to because he was all over the internet with articles about the exact content that I was trying to translate for the first time. Got in touch with him and he was incredibly helpful and kind with his time and expertise and he then ended up working with me on many other projects over many, many years. And then my first chapter was good enough, then I was offered another chapter, then a bit more, and it sort of took off from there.

Where did you go from there?

I ended up doing some other book projects for Guillem Balagué about Cristiano Ronaldo, Mauricio

Pochettino, FC Barcelona and then on the other side of things, there’s also a football translation agency called CFL Clark Football Languages. And I got in touch with them and said, “I’m available, I speak these languages and I love football. So I live in London. Any work that is suitable, please send it my way.” They started putting me on jobs here and there. Going to media studios to translate interviews, goingto then more excitingly, going to football club training grounds to interpret for Premier League footballers or help out at Wembley when England were playing in friendlies against Spanish speaking countries and making sure that the away fans could get into the stadium and they weren’t bringing in banners with anything controversial or anything political on them for that sort of thing. And it’s taken off from there. So that was my big year, 2013, for getting into all this. Now it’s 2023, so it’s a decade of football translation and interpreting.

So it all started from just one email and trying to get it from one sort of thing which sprang to another?

Yeah, totally. Because only from seeing the advert for this job that Guillem Balagué was originally looking for someone for, that was the first time I was actually made aware that football and languages combine to have actual jobs in that field. I knew being a translator could be an interesting thing, although at the same time I couldn’t see myself translating sort of medical text or political stuff, financial legal, because that wouldn’t have been playing to my strengths. But when opportunities to translate football content, match reports, transfer articles, interviews with footballers, fans and coaches, when that sort of thing came up, I thought, oh yeah, that’s definitely the right thing for me.

Where does your love for football come from?

I remember when Arsène Wenger took over and he had this really strong French accent, and then we had Patrick Vieira coming in, that was just very exciting. We then had Thierry Henry by that time as well as Robert Pires. I remember once by chance Cesc Fàbregas was sitting near me at Highbury because he was injured that day. And I got to use some of the Spanish that I’d learnt with Señora Gomez! And that just felt like an incredibly exciting thing to do at that time when I was 15.

What is your favourite interview or translation you’ve done?

I was lucky enough to be a shareholder because my dad had a share in Arsenal from when he was in his 20s, I think, and it then got passed down to me and I got to go to the shareholders meeting and every year and from sort of three or four years, I think I got to go when Arsène Wenger was the boss and he would always very happily sign anything anyone gave him and answer a question quickly because there’s always been enormous queues. Everyone wanted to speak to him and I remember, I think, plucking up the courage to ask him in French, “Quelle est votre mot préférée?” And he just said “Gol!”

More recently, I was incredibly lucky to get asked to go to Arsenal last summer on two separate occasions, one for when Fábio Vieira signed. And while he’s obviously not been the greatest player that we’ve ever seen, he’s done okay. And being involved in a big signing for your club and helping out on the language side is absolutely amazing. So, I was actually tasked with interviewing him in Portuguese. The club gave me questions and told me I could type up his answers later. I imagine he will remember me as the first face that he got to meet as an Arsenal player and one of the first people at the club who could speak to him, which was pretty cool. And then when Gabriel Jesus signed, the club just booked me in case he needed assistance, which he didn’t, because his English is

excellent and he’s been here for many years. But just being there and having the buzz of thinking, oh, my gosh, we’ve actually signed Gabriel Jesus and he’s here. And it wasn’t official yet, but I knew it, and that sort of thing was just amazing.

Do you tend to follow certain players that you’ve translated or interpreted for on their journeys? Is there someone you’ve represented or followed up with numerous times?

It’s a very good question actually, there are often players who like to engage in media work more than others. Some are comfortable doing it if it’s in their language, but not in English. for example, Dimitri Payet was doing media duties nearly every week during the season when he was really taking the Premier League by storm in 2015/16. And we got to a point where I followed him and he followed me back on Twitter, and then that seemed incredibly exciting and he would very occasionally like one of my posts, and then I’d just be so thrilled, just couldn’t control myself. And then it did come back round, I remember, because he’s been at Marseille ever since - for six years. And I then had another job, a different interpreting job remotely, where I was interpreting everything that he was saying in a press conference into English. And I found out beforehand that he was going to be the player speaking, so I did message him on Twitter, and he replied saying, bon courage (good luck, hope it goes well) and promised he wouldn’t speak too fast! And so that sort of thing is really nice because even though I haven’t seen him in many years and it’s hard to imagine a situation where I see him again now, we can still be in touch. I’m sure he does remember who I am and the help I gave him when he was in England.

Am I right in thinking he couldn’t speak English very well when he was here?

Well, he was happy to do interviews, but he just felt comfortable doing them in French. I think he was possibly a bit shy speaking in English, and possibly hadn’t spoken it that much beforehand.

He could definitely understand, and there were many interviews where the journalists would ask questions and he wouldn’t need me to translate into French. He would understand the questions, but then he was just more comfortable in his native language.

Which players have been the most difficult from your time in the industry?

Diego Costa, when he was at Chelsea, just never wanted to learn English, even though he was there for three or four years, was always reluctant to do so.

I’m not the type of guy to lay into anyone for no reason. But he wasn’t pleasant and he wasn’t particularly coherent - I mean I don’t know if you guys have ever actually heard him speak his version of Spanish, but it’s incredibly difficult to understand because it’s a mix of Spanish and Portuguese and he sort of makes up quite a lot of it. And trying to then understand what he’s trying to say from a Spanish-Portuguese perspective, even though I also speak Portuguese, was incredibly difficult. And when he was at Chelsea, there was a time when he had to do three interviews after training, which is pretty standard if it’s a sort of a media day. And he thought for some reason he was only doing one. And the media guy said to me: “Please just remind him he’s got three interviews.” I translated and he was just furious about it. Of course, it had nothing to do with me. I was just being telling him what he needed to know. But from that point on, he was just not pleased to be there and wanted to go home. So that wasn’t enjoyable. But most other footballers have been delightful.

With modern technology and developments in AI, and programmes like ChatGBT, do you kind of think your kind of line of work is threatened or less favorable than it used to be 10 or 20 years ago?

Good question! I’m yet to see any AI that can coherently translate a football interview or football match report or anything like that. Google Translate

is okay if you need something that gives you a very rough idea of what’s going on, but it’s very unlikely to be good enough for publication and it’s not going to be as good as what a native translator can produce at the moment. There’s lots of amazing technology out there, and it’s very helpful to me in the way that I do my job, but I’ve not seen anything that is a threat, so to speak. From my experience, the technology has actually helped do things remotely, which is brilliant. For example, a really amazing bit of technology, an interpreting platform called Interprify, that you log on to and it can handle multiple languages. So I’ve been doing interpreting jobs on therebefore with four or five other interpreters. So between us, we’ve covered English, French, Spanish, Italian, German for press conferences, for Champions League finals and Europa League finals, that sort of thing. And having that technology meant that I didn’t have to get on a plane to go anywhere. I could just do it from my own home. And that is really beneficial. I’ve got young family and would rather spend more time at home at the moment and do the better paid jobs from home if possible, which wasn’t possible when I started out as an interpreter.

When translating for a player, do you connect with them on a more personal level?

Yeah, definitely. When you’re working directly with someone, particularly someone high profile, and

there’s also a fear of getting it wrong, because if I say the wrong thing and it then turns into a story, that then affects the player’s image and the club’s image, so in that respect it can be a bit daunting. So I have sort of a catchphrase, which is, if in doubt, they get out, which is just sort of stay clear of controversy if you’re not entirely sure what’s being said or if you just want to protect the club and the player and not create trouble.

What’s the most absurd thing you’ve ever heard said that you’ve had to translate?

So, it was the manager of an Andoran team that were playing West Ham in the Europa League qualifiers in 2016. Their coach was an angry Spanish-speaking man, and when Slaven Bilić, West Ham’s coach at the time, had not appeared in the dugout for the match, the Lousitanos’ coach, I think his name was Xavier Roura thought the post match press conference was the perfect time to go on a big rant, saying that Slaven Bilić must have thought he was the ‘special one’, and he showed a complete lack of respect to him by not being in the dugout. And I was the person sitting next to him in the press room and I had to translate it all into English! When Slavin Bilić saw me the following week at the training ground, he was a bit sceptical!

When working on the Messi and Ronaldo autobiographies, the language used can change the message being conveyed, but do you try and show the personality of that person?

Well, I think it depends exactly who’s writing the book. So for those ones, they were both Guillem Balagué writing them in his own style. So the most important style to replicate and the most prominent style is his own writing style. Which is quite interesting and often difficult to navigate purely because he uses lots of different references and comes back to things in a slightly unexpected way, rather than it wasn’t a monologue of Messi talking through his entire career, or Ronaldo in this, you know, the same thing. So it was more trying to do the writer justice. And for one of them, for example, the Pochettino one, I basically split the job with Hugo. So then not only were we trying to emulate Balagay, but we were also trying to make it coherent as if it had been written by the same person the entire way through, which is difficult to manage when you’ve got thousands and thousands of words to translate and not very long to do it.

Presumably that means you have to change a couple of words every now and then to kind of represent the gist of what’s been said?

You have to make linguistic choices all the time. You can’t make it a rigid translation, it’s supposed to read as if it was written originally by a native English speaker and if someone else reads it and says that it reads like a translation, then that’s not what we want to hear. Our job is to pass unnoticed, ideally as translators and interpreters, and just to get the message across clearly succinctly.

How was working with Guillem Balagué?

Yeah, it was great. It was amazing, yeah, really lovely, man. When he did the Messi book, he then had a book launch in Liverpool and he invited me, which I wasn’t even the main translator for that one. I was sort of the secondary translator drafted in at the last minute and it was incredible. It was all very memorable - Jamie Carragher was there and that was one of the highlights for me! Guillem made that all possible. He is just an allround top guy.

How stressful is that kind of thing?

Just so difficult, you miss the word or anything and all the pressures new for journalists, I think, with questions, questions are usually less important because the journalists care about the answers. They’re not that bothered about the other questions. Obviously, if you miss something important in the question, it might make the answer a bit trickier to decipher. But I do give myself a bit of leeway with questions, just purely knowing that it’s more important to make sure the answer makes sense.

At a club like West Ham, because there’s a range of different languages that the players speak, how do they work on communicating with one another?

Yeah, often you can see little sort of groups form, because often, if you’re just at the training ground quite a lot, you do get to see little moments of banter. Even if they know their teammates being interviewed, they might still do something funny, like take their hat off during an interview or something stupid, just for banter. When at West Ham, they had a couple of Senegalese players, a few French speakers, a few Spanish speakers from Argentina, like Manuel Lanzini. And obviously, it’s comforting for the players to be able to speak in their own language with someone if they’ve just arrived in particular. But at the same time, it’s also

important for them to integrate and make an effort with the English boys with a bit of company with Mark Noble!

Have you ever considered doing work for Spurs?

There have been a few moments where I’ve been contacted by people who work there, or there was also a recruiter who contacted me saying he was actually recruiting for the sort of job I described before, which was sort of a liaison officer, someone who spoke Spanish and could help organize things for the players. And he sent me an email out of the blue saying it was at a London club and the salary was excellent. And I said, okay, let’s have a chat and I’d like to hear a bit more about it. And the second he mentioned Tottenham, I said, I’m sorry, there’s just absolutely no chance I could get a full time job at Tottenham. Just zero chance. In that kind of work.

How do you manage the obvious challenge of working with so many different languages?

I’ve had the advantage of studying Romance languageswhere there are common threads between all of them. And when I started Italian, for example, there were lots of things from either Spanish or French that gave me a head start. I still mix things up occasionally and they can be confusing and it is difficult to juggle all of them. But as a translator, most of what I do in the in those languages is passive. So the task is can I read those languages and understand them and can I listen to those languages and understand them and then put it into coherent, accurate English? My written Spanish, my written Italian, they’re okay, but you don’t need to be excellent with your writing and your well, to some extent you’re speaking because fundamentally as a translator your output should still be in your native language, which is English. I wouldn’t say I’m exactly a perfectionist when it comes to interpreting in particular. I just hope that my nerves don’t get the better of me. I stay calm, speak coherently and just get through it.

How many jobs on average do you do a week?

It varies massively. I do PSG’s, pre match interpreting, and now post match for home games. During during the season, I’ve got usually two or three interpreting jobs a week, sort of, that I know are coming. And then it could be transfer window new signings. It could be Arsenal having an interview with Gabriel in Portuguese, and they need me to go there. And then I’ve got various translation jobs. I might get a Sky job. I might be translating for Napoli’s website, Juventus’s, Twitter, and I might be freelancing for FIFA as well. So there are all sorts of different things. Every week is different, but it’s interesting, it’s varied.

Do you back Arsenal to get the job done this year?

Well, it’s late March, we’re eight points clear.I’m pretty confident. I’m also scared we’ll lose at Liverpool and Man City, and then that could be the lead gone. But whatever happens from now, it’s been the best season in a hell of a long time, and so, unexpectedly as well. If we can steer clear of

injuries and hope that Man City are distracted by the Champions League and the FA Cup, it’s the best chance we’re going to have in a really long time from this incredible position. The Sporting loss was definitely a blessing in disguise, I also think if you score a goal from the halfway line, you should be on the winning team. And fair play to them. They were very good over the two legs. It came down to a penalty shootout. Martinelli missed, but then picked himself back up again. Scored on Sunday. Can’t ask for more than that. And not having more European football in April should help us with our ten remaining cup finals.

We couldn’t possibly finish without discussing one lookalike that you are always associate with!

Marc Cucurella is the one that always comes up! Honestly, when Brighton announced him, they just tweeted, welcome to Brighton, Marc. They didn’t even include his handle or anything, so people, many people messaged me and tagged me, like, what’s going on here And, yeah, I got many messages of congratulations that day!