Do ‘last big contracts’ kill all motivation for big-name footballers? | OneFootball

Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk might have been given too much money and not enough motivation. Elsewhere, asterisk seasons and more.

Send your views to theeditor@football365.com; it’s been a belting week of football.

Is there a 350k-a-week curse?

I have a theory. I believe there is a curse that affects a specific type of footballer. Let’s call them the Late Greats. These are players who are key to the team, most likely their best or second best player. They are likely to have helped the club lift some sort of silverware. But they are growing a little long in the tooth.

Invariably, their importance coincides with their ‘last contract’ and as such, the players have the ability to shop around, and see if there is a mad club willing to pay them a disgusting amount of money per week to sign.

The teams who rely on the players, feel obligated to offer insane money to keep them. It happened at Arsenal, we had Aubameyang and Ozil, who had the club over a barrel and so we gave them enormous contracts. And I think they kill ALL motivation for those players. You’re gonna get £350k a week regardless. You train with less effort, you won’t risk an injury because most of your achievements are behind you, you trade on the fact that you won cups, and you feel untouchable because of that fact.

The fans then have to watch players they loved and cheered decline. It is something Liverpool fans are experiencing with Salah and VVD. It happens to almost every single player who gets that sort of money. Not just in the Premier League either, look at Serie A, and Spain. The only players who I think avoided the curse were probably Ronaldo and Messi, and that was because each of them was pushing the other to be called the Greatest of All Time. Without such a rivalry, I think most players reach a state of contentment with these astronomical wages.

What to mailboxers think? Is there such a thing as ‘too big a contract’ and sometimes, are clubs better off letting these players leave rather than cling to history and nostalgia for these players? John Matrix AFC

Asterisk seasons

As Arsenal romp to an unassailable 5 point lead and 6 points ahead of 3rd place, the “it’s because the league is so poor” detractors are out in force. Similar to last season and I’ll bet many of those AFC supporters who are now revelling in their position, were part of this.

Statistics can be twisted to suit any narrative, so here’s mine. The “quality” of the league can be judged by the gap between the winners and the team in third place as there can/will always be one team to apply pressure on the eventual winners. People say the standard is higher as the teams in the top 10/12 all take points off each other and are more “competitive”, something they always have done and something they always will.

Surely the years of 2018 – 2020 were the weakest period. Man City won two titles and were 23 and 26 points clear of third place and Liverpool a staggering 33, in the last 11 seasons these are the only seasons where the champions were more than 20 points clear of third. City and Liverpool’s 97 points and higher, point to the other teams being weaker than ever as despite taking points off each other (!), none were able to get anywhere near the top two.

At the current rate, Arsenal will not achieve 90 points. Liverpool’s 84 points last season was the lowest winning total for 9 years, a drop in form or a similar “stop playing once the title was won”, could see them win with a similar total. The “League is so poor” arguments are non-sensical, they were last year and are now.

Put another way. the poorest league ever was the 2003-4 season when not one team was able to beat the eventual Champions, Invincible makes them sound special when the reality would appear to be that the others were just shite! Howard Jones*

It’s Arsenal squad v Man City superstars for the Premier League

Many have said this season has evolved more in to an old fashioned style of football, priorities on long throws, set pieces get the headlines but it’s the intensity, physicality and priority on athleticism that a) makes the league so watchable but b) is contributing to injuries and fatigue.

Compared to other European leagues there are very few genuinely weak teams in the league as proven by Leeds on Wednesday night. Never has it been more necessary to rest and rotate players but also never has it been harder to do so given the quality of the league.

Chelsea rotated and made sure they made the shortest title challenge following their glorious 1-1 win over Arsenal. Arsenal are losing players every game to injuries and are having to fight through games.

Even the rotation king Pep has found it hard to trust his squad players, Pep has used the same 13 players for 7 of the last 9 games, he rotated for an easy league cup tie and then got embarrassed at home in the CL when he rotated in the other.

Slot stayed loyal to underperforming players for too long, finally rotated and it’s been no better.

Going back to set pieces I do wonder where those set piece and open play goal tables have gone? Arsenal have more open play goals than Chelsea who appear quite reliant on set pieces at the moment….can we see the table and the same energy Arsenal had in the first 6 games? Or will that simply not farm the same engagement?

Arsenal are 5 points clear with multiple injuries and cluster injuries. It’s underrated what a fantastic job we’ve done so far. Merino must be the best striker who isn’t a striker in Europe, that’s 30 goals and assists for him this year for club and country….a lot better than some much more heralded players.

On midweeks where City played a bonkers 5-4 and nearly threw away a 4 goal lead, there was a 4-3, a 2-2, Chelsea conceded 3, Liverpool had a frantic finish where they strived to win late but should have lost and ended up drawing I’m quite happy with the boring 2-0 with only 1 shot on goal conceded that Arsenal served up. Knee jerk conclusion is it will be Arsenal v City again for the title, can City keep Haaland fit, can Arsenal keep anyone fit? The battle of the squad vs the inevitable individual superstars, clean sheets vs ‘we’ll score 1 more than you’. Rich, AFC

A long mail about Liverpool and what is going wrong

Now few will believe this, and it’s from many (many, many) years ago so it could well be my misremembering this, but there was a detailed bit of analysis that Alan Shearer once did on MOTD when reviewing a Sunderland game. I think it was under Steve Bruce.

Incredibly unlikely I know, that Shearer could provide something you could at any point sagely nod to, and it could well just be something a video tech compiled and Shearer was given a script for, but I always remembered it and would like to share it as I think it’s meaningful and casts an insight into what is going on at Liverpool, with a nice tic that it was highlighted after they played Sunderland.

Now, in the archived game, Shearer talked through a composite of 5 or 6 highlights showing that the midfield were in fact contributing to the attacks; of chasing things down and pressing; and they were tracking back, and trying to force attacks out wide rather than letting them run through the middle; That they had a recognised, cohesive and coordinated shape, and moved as a unit. And then, at the final whistle, they collapsed to the floor utterly exhausted… with Sunderland easily beaten.

The summary conclusion being that clearly the players were fit, cared, and they were trying to ‘win their duels’ (though thankfully it was a good few years before that nauseating phrase entered football).

But, Shearer concluded, they were undone by something they had zero control over. The striker(s) stayed high but without a plan, so the midfield were left with over half the pitch to try and control and corral. When attacking, the team relied on crosses from out wide which required the midfield to support the forwards to have any hope of winning second balls and not leave the striker(s) isolated, but the defence immediately retreated and jogged back if they didn’t win those second balls – so the midfield had no hope to do anything other than SPRINT back after every foray forward; That the type of chances they were trying to create as part of the plan, was asking too much of the midfield without some different coaching on coordinated defending, or a plan to immediately react to turnovers. That the team was fundamentally not working, but you couldn’t put this on the players.

And so to Liverpool. Across Sunderland’s back five there was steady probing and passing; of moving them ‘side-to-side’ as Keegan opined about Paisley. Of retained possession, dummy runs, and the odd flick and one-two. But by far the default was engineering the space for a cross. You could argue it worked, in that it’s evidence of yet another game Liverpool have scored against a side with a low block, and hit the post, but of course the narrative is we consistently wonder how the team can score more.

But yet again, specifically in transition, there is no LFC plan. The narrative is the players are apathetic or distracted (or grieving), despite examples of Mac Allister chasing back, winning a tackle, and fist pumping and celebrating the importance of defending with the crowd. Of Szobozslai doing the same, as he has all season. I don’t really understand the hit piece Will Ford wrote on Gravenberch.

The goal Liverpool did concede was by an error from VVD, but it was a basic loss of possession that any team could do. The chance Chiesa cleared of the line was a bloody ludicrous direct, vertical pass forward that took out every single outfield player and left them free and 1:1 with the keeper, alone in the Liverpool half. We rightly belly-laughed when Ole’s United were so out of shape in the Europa League. The chance Allison easily tipped onto the bar was also from a very simple turnover of possession, but LFC had no coordinated plan on either how to close the space or win back the ball, as the back four scuttled backwards and invited the shot from range.

One of the things Jonathan Wilson said, of Klopp’s Liverpool, was the club were quite welcoming and training sessions were open, but you could not, at all, be there when they were practicing the press. It was detailed and confidential. I get the impression Slot doesn’t spend any time on turnovers. At all.

I don’t think this is mental (though Salah has openly cried on the pitch 3 times this year, so grief is definitely a load they are carrying). I don’t think it’s a problem offensively, as the team are creating chances and consistently creating a higher xG than their opposition. The Sunderland game should have been a relatively comfortable 1:0 home win. The eye-test and xG suggest the same. I think Carragher’s commentary is laughably inaccurate and inflammatory, as he always is now. The underlying problem is the team do not seemingly have the training to automatically fallback on when the ball is lost, and without that training they panic and retreat.

Of course, if my centre halves were performing so abysmally badly as VVD and Konate I’d likely err towards panic and retreat as well, but the answer surely must be to hold the ground, condense the space and allow your midfield to help you win the ball back. To get out of this requires bravery and confidence. Klopp had the force of personality to instill it. Does Slot? I hope so. Slot IN. Glad the crowd still sing his song. But practice turnovers please (and fire the set piece coach). Or the outcome will be the same as Steve Bruce at Sunderland. Tom G

Is this the Man Utd we want to watch?

That was pretty dire. Against a West Ham team that were pretty pants as well. Obviously Ruben has been reading the Mailbox and decided that last night was his night to change things and affect the game. The Heaven/Yoro swap was a good one; avoided a red and gave both of the young men game time. Nice One!

Then….taking Cunha and Zirkzee off for Mount and Ugarte to hold onto a 1-0 lead at Old Trafford. Against West Ham. In 18th. Well we all saw how that worked out.

And again it was the same ineffectual formation and the same ineffectual play that happens every game. We have two men in midfield who are having to carry that burden; one who is about 75 years old and it’s testament to his previous quality that he can still kind of produce the goods when his legs are gone and another who is playing out of position.

It seems to me that the weight of that burden, having to be the lynchpins of this god-awful formation while their abilities to do so are fundamentally limited, is taking its toll.

Case still has the knack of stopping play but his passing has been shocking over the last few games, Bruno is going through his worst patch as a United player (if anyone brings up the two assists against Palace then you should be looking at a job in Trump’s cabinet fudging the inflation numbers) and I honestly don’t blame them.

The amount of game time they’re having to go through is immense and I can only imagine how Bruno is feeling since he can’t be the one who pulls a rabbit out of the hat to save a manager’s blushes like he has in the past.

Since the Everton game I have been reminded about that game against Fulham on February 98th, 2014 where David Moyes decided that throwing 81 crosses into the box would definitely work. It didn’t then. It didn’t work against Everton. It didn’t work against Palace. It didn’t work against West Ham. Time after time you can watch a United attack break down where the players are passing side to side in the crescent arc in front of the opposition team/box, eventually a wingback or similar will get pushed wide or to the byline by a defender and half arsed cross might come in. We got lucky that the ball fell to Dalot after a deflection but is that the United you want to watch?

With Ruben’s stubbornness to absolutely never change formation, regardless of the reality of the football on the pitch, is costing us points and affecting the players. I think it’s very telling that Mr Garey Vance wrote a letter about the strength of the Prem up and down instead of commenting on that dross last night. No cheering on that one hey lad? Disgruntled RSA

Cleared deadwood XI anybody?

Wan Bissaka last night got me wondering if we are ready for a Cleared Deadwood 11 yet, and then I thought you guys would do a better job than me.

Looking for a team that would probably beat this United, made up from players deemed surplus to requirements at Old Trafford. Bonus points if they were often considered far below United’s expected levels when pulling on the red jersey. Antony obviously would be a delicious inclusion.

Could be expanded to include any qualifying player let go since Fergie’s retirement that went on to get better for their next club.

Obviously McTominay is the captain but where do you go from there? Nick

Stop with the Americanisms

Surely F365, which as far as I know is a British based website, doesn’t need to resort to vacuous Americanisms?

Sticking to British English should this not be ‘Man Utd: Scholes SWEARS DURING Amorim rant as he ‘ruins’ Red Devils star – ‘enough is enough’. We don’t need ‘X-Rated’ – you quote one use of the word ‘bullshit’ which doesn’t really qualify as such, and we definitely don’t need the meaningless (and possibly illiterate?) Americanism ‘drops’! A, LFC, Montreal

…Is X-rated the most misused euphemism in the football vocabulary?

Case in point. A headline on your fine site this morning: “Scholes drops x-rated Amorim rant”. What’s this? Has Scholesy had a go at Amorim while shagging a porn star live on camera? Sadly (thankfully) no. He’s merely uttered the word ‘Bullshit’ with nary a gimp mask or a rubber chicken in sight.