Quote
“To be nasty is very important. It means that you need to feel the blood of your opponent and try, in a sporting way, to kill your opponent.”
Antonio Conte on his efforts to put the killer instinct in to his Spursy lads - in a sporting way.
Number: 80
The percentage of Fantasy Premier League contestants who have Gabriel Jesus (the new Lionel Messi) in their team, the highest in the history of the competition.
Gabby the Mentality Monster
There’s a reasonable possibility that you read about Jurgen Klopp’s swipe at talkSPORT pundit Gabby Agbonlahor last week after the Liverpool supremo heard the Aston Villa old boy scundering Manchester United for their ‘performance’ against Brentford.
Your complete guide to all the festive sporting action including TV details
Irish Times Sportswoman of the Year Awards: ‘The greatest collection of women in Irish sport in one place ever assembled’
Two-time Olympic champion Kellie Harrington named Irish Times/Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Year 2024
Pub staff struggled to keep up with giddy Shamrock Rovers fans who enjoyed every moment of Chelsea trip
“Gabby........,” said Klopp at his press conference, inviting the gathered reporters to remind him of the fella’s surname, which was quite rude. And then: “He lost against us 6-0 in my first year, so I couldn’t remember him as a mentality monster on the pitch then. What he said about Man Utd in that show.... I was close to calling in and telling him: ‘You forgot completely that you were a player’.”
(For United fans, incidentally, the fact that a Liverpool gaffer was defending their team was an indication of just how far they’ve fallen).
Anyhow, happily Agbonlahor’s talkSPORT comrade Simon Jordan, the former Crystal Palace owner, came to his defence, criticising Klopp for suggesting that former players shouldn’t comment on current footballing matters. “Doctors and epidemiologists mustn’t criticise each other by Jurgen Klopp’s logic,” he said, which was quite a detour in the debate.
But Agbonlahor was, no doubt, grateful for Jordan’s intervention.
(Until: “It is preposterous to suggest anything coming out of Gabriel Agbonlahor’s mouth is worth listening to.” Oh).
Word of Mouth
“When was the last time you saw him beat a player? I can do what Sancho is doing at the moment - and I’m 54.”
Paul Merson somewhat underwhelmed by Jadon Sancho’s Manchester United career thus far.
“We don’t have, with all due respect, Azerbaijan to play. We don’t have anyone that gives you a break.”
Brazil manager Tite dragging poor old Azerbaijan in to his argument with Kylian Mbappé who claimed that South America doesn’t have the same level of competition as Europe.
“I’ve been calling him Theo, I have been calling him everything. Whatever happened to ‘John’?”
West Ham gaffer Dietmar Moyes on his new German signing, Thilo Kehrer.
Make Forest Great Again
Folk of a certain vintage won’t be unfamiliar with big spending by Nottingham Forest - back in the last century, after all, they became the first English club to pay a million quid for a player when they bought Trevor Francis in 1979 from Birmingham City. Although, famously, their then manager Brian Clough insisted they only paid “£999,999 - and possibly a few pence”.
Still, it’s fairly gobsmacking to see their current place on the list of top spenders so far in the transfer window, with another 10-ish days to go. With an outlay of £179.1 million, Chelsea are top of the list, but right behind them are Forest, having spent over £140 million on 16 - count ‘em! - new players. That’s more than Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich have spent in the window, although, granted, their squads needed considerably less strengthening.
Greek billionaire Evangelos Marinakis promised to make Forest great again when he became their majority shareholder in 2017 - fair to say, he’s putting his money where his mouth is.
More Word of Mouth
“He asked ‘can I have a couple of days to go home and bring my clothes, I don’t have anything to wear?’ I told him ‘no, you have to wear the same underwear for three or four weeks’.”
Wolves boss Bruno Lage ensuring that new signing Matheus Nunes won’t be too closely marked in a week or two.
“He’s not the youngest player, it’s a huge sum. I don’t think [he’ll think] it’s worth dribbling for an apple and an egg.”
Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann reckoning that Cristiano Ronaldo’s wage demands are beyond most clubs’ reach, that he’s unlikely to settle for, well, an apple and an egg.
“We know that Shamrock Rovers play unpleasant British-style, physical football …..”
Thanks for that Tamas Hajnal, Ferencvaros’ sporting director.
“It was his will to try a new challenge and we have to accept it. I can’t reply to why Casemiro traded European Champions for a struggling side, it’s his personal decision.”
Carlo Ancelotti kicking poor auld United when they’re down.
