Manchester City don’t have the same camaraderie as Liverpool because that’s what Stan Collymore feels…
Mr Motivator
Stan Collymore confesses in his Daily Mirror column that he does not believe that Liverpool can win the Quadruple – he expects Manchester City to win the Premier League and Champions League – but that if they prove him wrong, ‘it will be because, in Jurgen Klopp. they have a manager with the ability to get his players to run through a brick wall for him’.
So if they don’t win any more trophies this season – which is what Collymore expects – is it because Klopp actually doesn’t have the ability to get players to run through brick walls for him? Well no, because he is the only true ‘supreme motivator’ in the Premier League. So to precis: Klopp won’t win the Quadruple but he is the only man who could. Makes sense.
‘When you compare Klopp with Pep Guardiola, Ralf Rangnick – for now, of course – and Thomas Tuchel, you see only one supreme motivator. The others are all good, don’t get me wrong, but I just don’t see them being on the same motivational level as Klopp.’
Rangnick we can agree to ignore but Guardiola has won eight major trophies in the last five years with Manchester City; it sounds like he might be an excellent motivator. As for Tuchel, he took a floundering Chelsea side and made them actual European champions so we think he might also be shit-hot at that motivational stuff too.
But crucially, Collymore has inside knowledge:
‘I’ve watched behind-closed-doors training sessions at Liverpool during Klopp’s time and everyone was working hard but laughing and joking as well.’
Now this may be considered evidence if Collymore had also watched the same sessions from City and Chelsea but no, he is happy just to guess.
‘There was a sense of them all being mates and I don’t necessarily get that feeling with City’s squad. I’m not saying it’s not there, it could well be, but City are low-key and business-like.’
So he has watched Liverpool, seen something he likes and doesn’t feel like City would be the same (though they might be, because, well, who knows?)
‘If we are comparing camaraderie at the four clubs I’d say United’s is 3/10, Chelsea’s 6/10, City’s 7/10 and Liverpool’s is nearly red-lining at 10/10.’
It’s amazing what you can glean from watching a few training sessions of one club.
‘If Liverpool get close to the Quadruple then it will be because, at the pointy end of the season, their manager has a personality which says ‘Come and join me on this journey’ more than anything else.’
And if Guardiola wins the Premier League and Champions League – something that has only been achieved twice and not since 2008 – it will be in spite of his bang-average motivational skills and his inability foster more than 7/10 camaraderie.
Be more like Gazza
Also in Stan Collymore’s Mirror column: A challenge to Mason Mount (23) and Phil Foden (21) to emulate Paul Gascoigne and ‘become a national hero for the Three Lions’ in time for the World Cup in November.
They have already helped England to a major final – which sounds really quite impressive and something Gazza never managed – but Collymore is forever telling us that the past was better so here we go again…
‘Paul Gascoigne didn’t win a drop of what those two have already won for their clubs, but he was so revered because he stepped up and elevated the national team to being something better than it was.
‘That’s the challenge now for Mount and Foden.’
Now this is bizarre on many, many levels. First, England are already enjoying a golden era and that is largely because of a strong team ethic and not because of one maverick, flawed player; neither Mount nor Foden will ever ‘step up and elevate the national team to being something better’ because they are already pretty brilliant. They are very good players playing in a very good England side. Is that not quite impressive already?
No because Collymore has set them a ‘challenge’ that they could only realistically achieve by scoring the winning goal in the World Cup. Good luck with that, lads.
Antony and clear patter
We would be a tad more impressed with Graeme Bryce of The Sun’s ‘exclusive‘ that Manchester United want ‘samba star’ (because it’s 1989) Antony this summer if it had not been reported literally everywhere already. Maybe it’s exclusive only to Graeme Bryce, because it’s certainly not exclusive to The Sun…
It’s over two months since Manchester United were ‘intensifying’ their Antony interest (though a whole day later they were ‘joined’ by Chelsea). Last month The Sun were speculating about the XI United could field next season that very much included Antony and then two weeks ago Manchester United and Arsenal (but not Chelsea) were joined in the race by PSG and then just a week ago, Manchester United suffered a ‘transfer blow’ when he opened talks with Juventus.
It’s been a rollercoaster, with Antony first available for ‘upwards of £30million’ and then ‘a bargain fee of around £29million’.
And only now, Graeme Bryce has popped up with the ‘exclusive’ that ‘Erik Ten Hag plans an early return to Ajax for Brazilian winger Antony’. What a scoop! And now the price is magically ‘in excess of £50million’.
We know the economy is f***ed but even gas bills aren’t increasing £21m in a week. He hasn’t even sodding played.
Arsen-sio?
Sticking with The Sun website, they are not claiming an ‘exclusive’ that ‘Arsenal lead Marco Asensio transfer chase despite interest from Premier League rivals and AC Milan for Real Madrid star’, though they do seem to have exclusively misunderstood the reports they are citing.
‘European big boys AC Milan are said to be keen on landing the midfielder, although it’s claimed the Italians are currently behind Arsenal in the race for his signature.
‘That’s according to Italian outlet Calciomercato, who claim negotiations over a shock move to the Emirates are underway.’
They claim literally the opposite, saying that AC Milan have ‘moved well in advance of the competition, both with Real Madrid and with the player’ and that ‘the idea of converting into the star of Milan fascinates Asensio’. Arsenal are literally just mentioned in passing and certainly not with any mention of ‘negotiations’, merely that they are ‘above all’ Premier League options.
The rest is just adding 2 plus 2 and getting sweet, sweet Arsenal clicks.
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