Live in Nottingham
Nottingham is glorious in the sunshine and this city is one that claims to be the pub capital of the UK.
It is said the West Bridgeford area, home to the City Ground on the River Trent, has nine pubs per square mile and it feels like everyone is out nice and early to soak in the atmosphere.
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Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo has delivered the same message to fans in his programme notes as his press conference: "Enjoy the game and bring then noise."
My train came in stupidly early today so I have been walking around. There there is a bit of a party atmosphere bubbling up even several hours before kick-off.
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New York Times
11 minutes ago
- New York Times
Carlos Cuesta's move echoes ambition of Mikel Arteta, but what next for Arsenal?
Carlos Cuesta's departure from Arsenal will be an irritant and an inconvenience, but should be nothing more than that. In a perfect world, these things happen when planned and agreed, with smooth transitions and fond farewells, but football doesn't often work like that. Would Mikel Arteta have preferred not to suddenly lose a trusted member of his coaching team not long before the squad reconvenes for the new season? Certainly. But this is not a cataclysmic disaster to send shockwaves through Arsenal. Cuesta, who is set to take up the reigns at Parma, is a gifted and popular member of staff — evidently talented enough to be offered a Serie A job while still in his twenties. The way of football, though, is to move on, move quickly, and get to work. A post shared by Carlos Cuesta (@carl0scuesta) Arteta has had a close-knit staff for the past few years, and that loyalty and togetherness, the blend of personalities and qualities that make up his inner circle, is a tremendous benefit. Arteta may want a speedy replacement but, more importantly than that, he will want the right replacement. The fact Cuesta, 29, is ambitious is no bad thing in the coaches' room at a club like Arsenal. It may be that replicating his energy and ideas, bringing the ability to be a great sounding board for himself and the playing staff is paramount. But if Arteta is not convinced that introducing a new cog to the machine is optimal, he could bide his time and rely on the remaining group. Advertisement Arteta is used to working with a coaching core of three assistant managers, so it is not as if he is left terribly in the lurch. Albert Stuivenberg — the right-hand man with the AirPods — has been with him from the start. Miguel Molina, like Cuesta a young coach, 32, who is closer in age to the players and can bring a different kind of connection, remain in situ. So it takes the pressure off rushing an appointment to replace Cuesta. Arsenal were not in a hurry to appoint a new technical director when Edu abruptly left his role midway through last season. The process to settle on Andrea Berta took a few months. There are two fundamental characteristics needed if Arsenal do decide to recruit or promote to fill Cuesta's role — an elevated level of competency and an extreme level of trust. The latter is clearly harder to generate in an instant, and may need more time to grow. Cuesta is the first member of the coaching team to depart the inner circle against Arteta's wishes. Stuivenberg has also been considered as a managerial prospect by other clubs, but has so far resisted the temptation to leave to become a No 1 elsewhere. Arsenal's squad will begin to return before the end of the month and those who were not on international duty will, together with their families, go to Spain for a crossover of a holiday and pre-pre-season with light sessions to begin the process of tuning up while also enjoying some quality time. Cuesta was expected to be in that party. No doubt Arsenal will watch Cuesta's progress with interest. It echoes the leap Arteta himself left as a young coach when he left Pep Guardiola and Manchester City to take the Arsenal job in mid-season during 2019, backing himself to become a main man and take the big decisions for himself. It also echoes the fast-track development Cesc Fabregas has made since taking on Como for his first management job in the Italian league. Adios Carlos. Time now for him and Arsenal to move on.
New York Times
14 minutes ago
- New York Times
The art of showboating: ‘People sometimes see it as a slur – it's expressing yourself'
'If I had been in that position, I would have sawed them off below the knees. You just shouldn't do that.' It was a passage of play that featured no-look passes, a backheeled volley, and a game of keep-ball that turned a Champions League match into 'a kind of rondo'. Peter Bosz was furious. Furious with his own PSV players. Advertisement 'I thought it was terrible. I'm really annoyed,' he said. Back in January, PSV were facing a callow Liverpool side who were down to 10 men and trailing 3-2 in the closing minutes. Against the better judgment of Bosz, the PSV players had decided to showboat. 'I don't think it's respectful to the opponent,' Bosz said. 'I think we would have entertained the crowd before without all that craziness.' A couple of months later, in South America, Corinthians were beating Palmeiras 1-0 on aggregate in the second leg of the Sao Paulo state championship final. As the clock ran down, Memphis Depay stood with both feet on top of the ball. Andrei Kanchelskis once did something similar for Rangers in a Scottish Cup semi-final against Ayr United, when the Russian also brought one hand up to his forehead as if he was looking out to sea (it turns out he was trying to locate Billy Dodds, the scorer of the goal he was about about to set up). ⚽️ GOAL OF THE DAY: Billy Dodds v Ayr United 🕰️ On this day in 2000, a memorable moment from Kanchelskis in a 7-0 victory at Hampden Park. — Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) April 8, 2020 Depay, in contrast, was only interested in timewasting — and in a way that was provocative in the eyes of the Palmeiras players. A brawl and two red cards followed. So did a rule change. The Brazil Football Federation (CBF) announced that a player should be shown a yellow card if they stand on the ball with both feet, fuelling a wider debate about the changing face of jogo bonito — the beautiful game in Portuguese, and a term widely used as a nickname for football — and whether individuality on the pitch is becoming a thing of the past. Denilson, the former Brazil international who became the world's most expensive footballer in 1998, expressed his annoyance on Instagram. 'People ask me, 'Denilson, why don't we see players with personality, like there used to be?' Here's the answer — one more thing to take the fun out of our football.' There is a 'love it or hate it' element to showboating (Pep Guardiola feels the same way as Bosz, judging by the way he once publicly rebuked Raheem Sterling for a flurry of stepovers late on in a victory over Manchester United), but a debate about the rights and wrongs isn't so black and white. Wasn't Ronaldinho just being Ronaldinho when he was showboating? Advertisement Indeed, a trick that is regarded as excessively flamboyant and even disrespectful in the eyes of one player, may be seen as a go-to skill for another, whether that's Kerlon performing his seal dribble, Ricardo Quaresma's obsession with the rabona or, as was the case in the Copa del Rey final a decade ago, Neymar extravagantly lifting the ball over a defender's head with a rainbow flick that enraged Athletic Club. 'It was an act with no elegance or sportsmanship,' Andoni Iraola, the Athletic captain at the time and now the Bournemouth manager, told Telecinco. Neymar shrugged in response. 'It's a way of dribbling past an opponent like any other. You can't get angry because it's my style of play, I've been doing that for years.' Perhaps the timing of Neymar's showboating didn't help. Barcelona were leading 3-1 and less than five minutes remained. Jamie Carragher says the scoreline, or the 'game state', plays a big part in how acts of showboating are perceived. 'Most players wouldn't take the p*** or do something that risks the result because they know they'd get in trouble with their own players or manager,' the former Liverpool defender says. 'But when they know the result is taken out of the equation, and that the game's essentially won, that's when they probably feel it's OK. But then you're basically p****** off the opposition manager and players, and there's a chance of you getting a proper injury.' Cue that moment at the City Ground three years ago when Tottenham Hotspur were beating Nottingham Forest 2-0 with less than 10 minutes remaining and Richarlison started to do keepie-uppies. It was red rag to a bull for the Forest team. Brennan Johnson, now a team-mate of Richarlison at Spurs but a Forest player at the time, cleaned the Brazilian out. 'That's what you get for showboating at this level,' Martin Tyler, the Sky Sports commentator, said. "If you did what Richie did as a kid somebody would give you a whack!" 😅 Ange Postecoglou on the clash between Brennan Johnson and Richarlison in Forest vs Spurs last season 👀 — Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 15, 2023 Carragher, who was working alongside Tyler that day, didn't condone Johnson's challenge, but it was clear during his summarising that he had little sympathy for Richarlison, largely because his actions served no purpose other than to 'wind people up'. That's nearly always the case with ball-juggling (Frank Worthington's extraordinary goal of the season for Bolton Wanderers in 1979 is an obvious exception) because it's hard to see it as anything other than mocking the opposition. Advertisement In 1999, all hell broke loose in a game between Corinthians and Palmeiras (yes, those two again) that ended up being abandoned after Edilson, with his team 5-2 up on aggregate, rolled a ball down the back of his neck. Edilson was kicked, chased down the tunnel by the Palmeiras players and subsequently dropped from Brazil's Copa America squad. But what about showboating that does serve a purpose in the closing stages of a game that's already won — is that different? Carragher nods. 'If someone's using their ability to create a goal, or to get out of a tight situation, or to keep possession… one of the greatest pieces of skill is the Brazilian in the 1970 World Cup final who does that stepover before possibly the best goal of all time. I've always looked at that and thought, 'Wow'. I've never looked at it as taking the p***.' He is talking about Clodoaldo (below) dribbling around four Italy players inside his own half in the build-up to Carlos Alberto scoring his iconic goal. Did Clodoaldo need to do what he did before passing the ball 10 yards to Rivellino? No. Was it a joy to watch? You bet. At the other end of the scale is an incident that took place 14 years ago in Carson, California. 'Mario Balotelli, he's getting booed for this,' the commentator JP Dellacamera said. 'That's a bit disrespectful, I believe, to the LA Galaxy.' 'A bit?' replied Taylor Twellman, the summariser. Manchester City's Balotelli was clean through on goal in a 2011 pre-season friendly against LA Galaxy when he decided, ludicrously, to turn 180 degrees to try to score with a backheel flick. His shot (if you can call it a shot) went wide and some of the City players openly remonstrated with Balotelli. As for their manager Roberto Mancini, he was so incensed that he substituted Balotelli immediately, with only 30 minutes gone. On this day in 2011, Mario Balotelli tried this vs. LA Galaxy. His manager was not impressed. (via @MLS) — ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) July 24, 2020 More recently, there was that bizarre moment at Old Trafford when Manchester United were playing against Sheriff Tiraspol in the Europa League and Antony, their Brazilian winger, turned into a one-man circus act. With nobody close to him, Antony performed a 720-degree spin with the ball at his feet — before passing it straight out of play. 'I like to see skill and entertainment,' Paul Scholes, the former United midfielder, said in his punditry role for BT Sport. 'But I'm not sure that is skill or entertainment — it's just being a clown.' Mark Warburton called Nathan Oduwa into his office. He had no intention of rollicking the 19-year-old or telling him that he could never do it again, but he knew that he had to speak to the teenager to find out what was going through his mind at the time and also to explain why some people reacted in the way that they did. Advertisement A couple of days earlier, Oduwa had come on as a substitute for Rangers in a Scottish Championship game at Alloa Athletic, where they were leading 4-1. It was 5-1 by the time that Oduwa, who was on loan from Tottenham Hotspur, decided to channel his inner Neymar. Oduwa produced a rainbow flick, and the Rangers fans loved it. The Alloa players? Not so much. 'I felt as if he was trying to take the p***,' Colin Hamilton, the Alloa defender, said. 'What was there, a minute to go? Was there really any need for it?' The Scottish media had a field day. Rangers were a huge club playing in the second tier. Alloa were part-time, and Hamilton's comments about Oduwa fanned the flames. Rangers manager Warburton dealt with it in a rational way. 'I spoke to Nathan. I said to him, 'We're winning the game, this is Rangers, and that means it's a cup final for the opposition, so understand the reaction. They're at home, they're getting beaten, everyone's there watching, you come on as a young Tottenham boy and you're doing a rainbow flick'. 'I said, 'I love the fact you've got the courage to try something, I love the fact you go out and entertain the fans. If you're doing it for a purpose and it comes off and we create something from it, great. If you try it for a reason and it doesn't come off, I understand. But make sure there's a purpose to what you're doing. The moment you disrespect an opponent, then there's a different tone to the conversation'. 'And he said, 'I was genuinely trying to beat the guy. It's what I would do in training'.' Occasionally, a player will realise that they've overstepped the mark with their showboating. In 2005, Wycombe Wanderers' Nathan Tyson got down on all fours to head a ball over the line after the Wrexham goalkeeper had misjudged the bounce. Watched by several Premier League scouts at the time, Tyson instantly regretted his actions and feared he would, in his words, come across as a 'cocky nugget'. Advertisement 'I don't know what came over me,' he said. 'It was so pub-football-like. I feel sorry for the goalkeeper. He was a young lad, and I never meant to rub his nose in it. It was just intended as a bit of fun, and I would never do it again.' Kerlon's seal dribble, which involved him running along with the ball balanced on his forehead, was anything but a one-off. It was a move that he had perfected at a young age in Brazil through hours and hours of training with his father, and almost impossible to stop him once that ball was bobbing up and down on his brow. But it was not, Kerlon says, a party trick that he pulled out just for the sake of it. 'I think it was a solution I had available to me, a way of getting out of a tricky situation,' he told The Athletic last year. 'I never walked out onto the field planning to do it. It was just something that would happen naturally.' Kerlon ran into problems — literally. He was kicked, tripped and, in the Belo Horizonte derby in September 2007, hit with such force and so crudely by the Atletico Mineiro full-back Coelho, that he was fortunate not to suffer a serious injury. The fallout in the days and weeks that followed was evidence of how divisive showboating, or a piece of unique individual skill, can be — even in a country with Brazil's football history. 'If I was in Coelho's shoes, I would have clattered Kerlon,' Luiz Alberto, the captain of rival club Fluminense, said. 'It's disrespectful to his opponents. They are professionals too. I would find some way to get the ball from him. I would use capoeira (an Afro-Brazilian martial art) moves if I had to. I would take the ball, his head and everything else.' Others, including the future Brazil manager Dorival Junior, Atletico midfielder Maicosuel ('You have to have ability to do that') and readers of Placar magazine, came out in support of Kerlon. 'It brings people to the stadium in the same way Garrincha's feints once did,' Cassio Mauricio wrote in a letter that was published. 'People sometimes see it as a slur,' Lee Trundle says, sounding mildly annoyed. 'Football, especially now, is played in a way where everything's possession. And, for me, it's boring. For me, showboating is expressing yourself as a player. So I don't see it as a bad thing. 'When I did the one where I rolled it around my shoulders and Peter Jackson (the opposition manager who was in charge of Huddersfield Town at the time) said, 'He's disrespecting players'… well, how are you disrespecting a player? If you do a two-footed tackle on someone, no one will come out and say, 'He's disrespected that player'. For me, that's worse than rolling the ball around your shoulders or nutmegging someone.' Advertisement Trundle never played in the Premier League. He spent the majority of his career in the lower leagues of English football with Wrexham and Swansea City. For a period in the 2000s, though, he was known as the 'Showboat King' in the UK, certainly on the hugely popular television show Soccer AM, where his flicks and tricks and outrageous goals gained him a cult following that continues to this day. We can't ignore the ballers of the #EFL 😤 Take it away Lee Trundle 🔥 #EFLMen — Sky Bet (@SkyBet) September 11, 2024 Trundle is still playing semi-professionally in Wales at the age of 48 and scoring jaw-dropping goals. Last week, he was taking part in the Baller League in front of Will Smith. 'I like to express myself and I like to have fun on the pitch,' Trundle says, smiling. Aside from the broken nose that he suffered in a six-a-side game as a 17-year-old after putting the ball through the legs of a player who had threatened to punch him if he nutmegged him again (Trundle, being Trundle, also said 'Shut them' as the ball disappeared one side and came out the other), he was never on the receiving end of any physical retribution in a proper match for his showboating. 'On a professional pitch, players will say stuff, but when are they ever going to do it?' Trundle adds. Indeed, the reaction of players and fans to showboating is, to an extent, a reflection of the football culture in that country. Xavi, for example, made some interesting remarks about his former Barcelona team-mate Neymar's rainbow flick against Athletic Club after he had moved to the Qatari club Al Sadd. 'Those things in Brazil are accepted, but not so much (in Spain),' Xavi told Sport. 'He (Neymar) should reflect on it because he's an extraordinary guy, a hard worker and humble. But he has this Brazilian trait, which sees such things as part of the show. (In Spain), it looks like a lack of respect.' Advertisement Warburton, who is currently the sporting director and head of soccer for Sporting Club Jacksonville in the United Soccer League, nods in agreement. 'That's a major point (about the culture),' he says. 'One of the reasons I responded so quickly to your message (asking to talk about Oduwa and showboating) is that over here, in the States, people see something like that as being magical. 'I watched a game the other day where the team were defending a goal and the defender cleared it with an overhead kick, like a scissor kick, and the crowd went nuts. They were really like, 'Wow!', and they applauded it. It's a different audience.' In truth, most football supporters around the world enjoy a bit of showboating and all the more so if the main protagonist is playing for our team. Celtic fans still talk about the day Lubomir Moravcik controlled a ball with his backside against Heart of Midlothian, while Newcastle United supporters of a certain age will always smile when they think about Kenny Wharton sitting on the ball against Luton Town to get his own back for the humiliation they had suffered in a 4-0 defeat at Kenilworth Road earlier in the season. Go back a bit further to 1972 and Don Revie's Leeds United were playing exhibition football against Southampton, in much the same way as PSV did against Liverpool more than fifty years later. 'It's almost cruel,' Barry Davies, the BBC commentator, famously said as Johnny Giles produced a rabona in the middle of a 39-pass sequence. On This Day 1972 #lufc'To say that Leeds are playing with Southampton is the understatement of the season''Oh look at that, it's almost Cruel!'Barry Davies great commentary on the great Leeds United.#lufc #lufc100 @LUFC @TheSquareBall — LEEDS UNITED MEMORIES (@LUFCHistory) March 4, 2020 Showboating, in other words, has been around for a long time, and it's hard to escape the feeling that the good outweighs the bad, especially in an era when football increasingly looks the same. 'You don't want to kill that entertainment value,' Warburton adds. 'If the kids see a trick, buy into that skill, go and get a football and start copying it, that can't be a bad thing. We want players to be brave and to try things with a ball.' (Illustration: Kelsea Petersen; Ana Maria Ortero / AP Photo, Anthony Wallace / Getty, Sebastian Frej / Getty)
New York Times
21 minutes ago
- New York Times
John Textor vs Nasser Al-Khelaifi — a French football feud that is about to go global at Club World Cup
When the Club World Cup draw was made in December, conjuring the jumbled bones of Gianni Infantino's strange monster into something approaching life, a few fixtures immediately jumped out. Paris Saint-Germain vs Atletico Madrid sounded fun, like a Champions League quarter-final that had boarded the wrong flight. There was Bayern Munich vs Boca Juniors, a 22-man culture clash, plus multiple underdog tales waiting to be told — or not — by Auckland City and Mamelodi Sundowns. Advertisement Throw in the possibility for the kind of jubilant human dioramas that we have seen over the last few days — Esperance de Tunis supporters taking over Times Square, the rolling Boca roadshow — and you had most of the ingredients needed for a solid group stage. Most but not all. There was one key thing missing, at least at first glance. Summer tournaments are celebratory things, but you also need some dark to go with the light. Where was the match that was begging to descend into chaos? Where was the bad blood? River Plate vs Boca? That can't happen until the semi-finals at the earliest. It's the same for Flamengo vs Fluminense. Benfica vs Porto is a potential quarter-final — better, but still over two weeks away. Until then, it's all going to be relatively friendly on the pitch. That's the bad news. Here's the good: there is some enmity to be found. You just have to look inside the boardroom to locate it. On Thursday, a feud that has gripped French football will go global. It involves Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the president of PSG, and John Textor, the chairman of Eagle Football Group. The latter is president of Lyon, PSG's rivals in Ligue 1. He is also the majority owner of Botafogo, the reigning South American champions — and PSG's next opponents at the Rose Bowl. The animosity between the men dates back to 2022, when Textor became majority shareholder of Lyon and immediately placed PSG — backed by Qatari state money, domestically dominant — in his crosshairs. 'I don't like models like PSG,' Textor said in his first press conference. 'We want to go after them.' Lyon have yet to make significant progress on that front. Textor, though, has certainly gone after PSG in the press. He complained about the club's Qatari ownership to the BBC in February 2024, then doubled down in a lengthy interview with Brazilian outlet Globo. 'I'm competing with a country, not an owner,' he said. 'It's a model of spending without brakes, without restrictions.' Advertisement That prompted a stinging response from PSG. In a letter signed by general secretary Victoriano Melero — but almost certainly approved by Al-Khelaifi — they described Textor as 'undignified', accusing him of 'playing to the gallery' with 'wild attacks' and threatening legal action. 'As a newcomer to France, we humbly suggest informing yourself of some basic facts, while also perhaps having some self-reflection,' it read. The tone of those exchanges reflected a growing friction between Textor and Al-Khelaifi in private. Days earlier, the two men had been involved in a meeting to discuss TV rights for Ligue 1, alongside the owners of the other clubs in the league. It was a fraught occasion, with clubs on edge after the failure of the previous TV deal. Textor pushed for a Netflix-style, direct-to-consumer product, referencing his experience with streaming service FuboTV. When Al-Khelaifi, who favoured a more conventional offer from DAZN, pushed back, the meeting descended into a slanging match — as later revealed in a video leaked to French newspaper L'Equipe. Textor accused Al-Khelaifi of being a 'bully' and a 'tyrant'. 'You live in a different world,' Al-Khelaifi told the American, before calling him a 'cowboy'. Al-Khelaifi got his way. Ligue 1 signed with DAZN in a deal that would end up being prematurely terminated in May. But he and Textor continued to exchange angry messages, subsequently published in L'Equipe. 'You know nothing about football and I'm wasting my time talking to you,' Al-Khelaifi told Textor. 'You will lose wherever you go.' Nor was that the end of the matter. In an explosive interview with radio station RMC in January, Textor returned to the topic, accusing Ligue 1 president Vincent Labrune of bowing to PSG — and Al-Khelaifi, who also runs beIN Sports, of having a conflict of interests. Advertisement 'Nasser sat there and ran the meeting,' Textor said. 'He should not have even been in the meeting because he is an interested party with his own TV channels. Every time anybody would raise an alternate idea, Nasser would bark at them and intimidate and bully. The president of our league just sat there like a lapdog, didn't say anything.' In a statement, a Ligue 1 spokesperson said they were 'surprised' by Textor's comments. A PSG statement, seen by The Athletic, was more forceful. 'It's a shame that you can't buy class and elegance as it would have enabled Mr Textor to avoid ridiculing himself,' it read. There has, seemingly, been a bit of a rapprochement since then. Al-Khelaifi invited Textor to the Parc des Princes for PSG's Champions League match against Arsenal in May, which was welcomed by the American. 'Happy to be working again with NAK (Al-Khelaifi) at this critical time, on the challenges and opportunities of French football,' he wrote on Instagram. 'At times like this, we will work together. Tonight I support France!' There was also, in February, the sight of Textor wearing a cowboy hat to Lyon vs PSG, just days after details of the TV meeting were made public. It might have struck some as a provocation, but there was an alternative reading: that Textor was injecting a little humour, maybe even some self-deprecation, into the narrative. In truth, the two men probably have more in common than first meets the eye. Both see themselves as ex-athletes: Textor was a good snowboarder and skateboarder in his youth; Al-Khelaifi was Qatar's best tennis player and is now a padel evangelist. Both made their money and their reputations in the media sphere, Al-Khelaifi with beIN and Textor with Fubo. They are both, to differing degrees, outsiders in the French system. They may have clashed in the football world, but they are also similar when it comes to their interpretation of their roles at their clubs. They are hands-on, proactive, public-facing. When PSG won the Champions League in May, Al-Khelaifi was on the field, kissing the trophy. It was the same story with Textor when Botafogo beat Atletico Mineiro in the final of the Copa Libertadores in November. Advertisement None of which is to say that there will be any quarter given on Thursday. After the Libertadores final, Textor sent a photo of the trophy to his rival — a pointed dig because, at that point, PSG had not won the Champions League title that Al-Khelaifi had been dreaming of since he arrived in France in 2011. They have now. But Textor's reaction to the Club World Cup draw made it clear that neither he nor Botafogo will be paying them too much deference in Pasadena. 'Now we are going to play against a little team from Paris and also a big historic club: Atletico Madrid,' Textor said in April. 'I really can't wait.' (Illustration: Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic; Xavier Laine / Getty, Clement Mahoudeau / Getty)
