Sad news reached us this morning of the passing of Patrick Barclay – Paddy to many – a former Guardian and Observer journalist. Those of us who knew him – and everyone knew Paddy – will miss the tales, the laughter, the usually unshakeable, strident opinions and the love for football, particularly Dundee FC.
Paddy, a skilful writer, an opinion-former, worked for the whole broadsheet spread of Guardian, Times, Telegraph and Independent over his long career and was later the president of the Football Writers’ Association. A true Fleet Street veteran of the old school who also made time for the younger crew who had grown up reading his reports. It was always a pleasure to talk football – and much else besides – with him. He will be sorely missed.
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Arteta on that weight of injuries: “With the loads and minutes, it’s inevitable, It’s an accident waiting to happen. This season it’s the accumulation of that, the stress. Is it luck? Certainly the schedule is demanding, and for explosive players it becomes an issue.”
Better/good news on Bukayo Saka/Ben White from Arteta:
BS: “It’s too early, he’s in early stage of rehab. When he’s closer, doing more workload, we will see how he is.
“Ben White is in training more regularly now. We have to manage his load, but he is available.”
Mikel Arteta has also been on the early shift, and he’s been discussing that Kai Havertz injury at Arsenal’s warm-weather training camp:
“We were having a great camp in Dubai, recharging , training, connecting with nature and different environment. Then the injury happened in unexpected way, it’s a big blow because of injuries we have. Fortunately we have been through a lot this season, it’s the challenge I have. We love it. Let’s see what the team is made of.
“Any team in this league losses four players in frontline like that and I know what the answer will be.”
More Slot, on fellow red card Curtis Jones: “He will be out for one game. He came back from an injury, so he missed a few games already. I was planning to start him against Plymouth. He wasn’t completely recovered yet.
“I liked him a lot when he came in [against Everton]. He had a very good half hour. It was the best part of our game. That was the only part of the game where I felt a bit of comfort and maybe a bit of control.
“I liked a lot that he stood up for the team, but I also think there are other ways for the team and the fans to do that. I will talk to him about that. But it’s the same for me. I should have acted differently after the game as well.
“It is an emotional sport and sometimes individuals with emotions make the wrong decisions. That is definitely what I did.”
Slot on derby red: ‘I would love to do that differently’
Liverpool boss Arne Slot admitted “emotions got the better of me” after his red card at the end of a dramatic final Merseyside derby at Goodison Park on Wednesday night.
Slot was sent off after the full-time whistle after James Tarkowski’s goal in the eighth minute of added time to earn a 2-2 draw.
“There is an ongoing process now and I have to respect that,” he said. “I think what happened was that the extra five minutes ended up being eight. It happened a lot.
“Emotions got the better of me. If I could do that differently, if I look back I would love to do that differently and I hope to do that differently next time. There is an ongoing process and I don’t want to disturb that.”
Preamble
It never stops, never stops, never stops. But it’s fun fun fun so we continue. Quite a week it’s been, and there’s a whole weekend of Premier League action to come, kicking off tonight with Brighton v Chelsea – does this game always have to kick off at 8pm? That’s a repeat of last weekend’s FA Cup, a win for Brighton if you have forgotten.
The key games in the title race are Leicester v Arsenal on Saturday and Wolves v Liverpool on Sunday but also a top-four battle of Manchester City v Newcastle in the Saturday 3pm slot. Then there’s a clown-car derby Tottenham v Manchester United on Sunday. Team news and press conferences to come, when we expect Mikel Arteta to discuss his injury crisis in the Gunners’ forward line after Kai Havertz’s torn hamstring.
Plus all the news you can shake a stick at. Join us.
