RED ALERT
Barely 12 hours after watching his Liverpool side marmalise Tottenham at Anfield, overturning a first-leg deficit in a manner akin to the Incredible Hulk idly tossing a heavy goods vehicle out of his path, Arne Slot was back and looking fresh-faced as he met the press. In his first season in England, the Liverpool manager has now won 29 of his 37 games, and has led his team to a Wembley final, with three other trophies very much still in play. Faced with the unenviable task of replacing the beloved Jürgen Klopp, he is performing better than one of the greatest managers in Liverpool history. How does it feel, Arne?
“Pleasant,” he trilled, before swiftly moving on to the tough fixture list ahead. This is very much Slot’s style in a nutshell – if Klopp played the role of an erratic, intense but brilliant general on the touchline, his successor is every inch the affable, urbane diplomat. Were it not for his exquisitely lacquered dome reflecting the floodlights, he might simply blend into the background entirely (by the way, ever seen a picture of Arne Slot with hair? Here you go. Nice kit as well). But while his persona may be mild-mannered and unassuming, the team he has forged at ludicrous speed is anything but.
It’s strange to think that it wasn’t until the 51st minute of Thursday’s game, when Mohamed Salah thrashed his penalty into the top corner, that Liverpool actually went ahead on aggregate, and the game wasn’t safe until Dominik Szoboszlai got their third goal 15 minutes from time. Because in reality, the jig was up for Spurs as soon as the second or third red wave hit them in the opening 10 minutes. Admittedly still nursing a number of first-team injuries, this was still a meek effort from the visitors, who chose an odd moment to try and park the proverbial bus in front of goal, failing to produce a shot on target all night. Even their own manager, Ange Postecoglou, was a bit confused. “Our intent was to play the same way we play every week,” he barked. “We were trying to put pressure on them and unsettle them but it never really materialised.”
In fairness, who has managed to unsettle Liverpool this season? Only Nuno’s Nottingham Forest have inflicted a defeat of any real consequence on them, and that was back in mid-September. In Bigger Cup, they beat Milan, Leverkusen and Real Madrid with insouciant ease. The question is: having won pretty much everywhere else, can Slot’s more radio-friendly brand of heavy metal football cut it on an overcast, breezy Sunday afternoon in the West Country? Because next up in the FA Cup, it’s a trip to Plymouth, just one of many treats in a tantalising fourth-round draw. Yes, the ghost of Wayne Rooney may still stalk the terraces of Home Park and yes, Argyle are bottom of the second tier with its leakiest defence. But that old Cup magic means you just never know. Or maybe, just like last night, you do. Slot appears immune to the usual pitfalls of English football and in his understated way, is achieving things that border on the unprecedented. Pleasant, indeed.
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
Join Tim de Lisle from 8pm GMT for hot FA Cup fourth-round updates updates of Manchester United 0-0 Leicester (pens 3-4 aet).
QUOTE OF THE DAY
The biggest thing in this whole situation is about taking responsibility and that has been at the forefront of my mind. You need to take responsibility for your actions. There’s a reason why you’re in this position, and there’s a reason why this has happened. Once you kind of accept those things, then you can work on yourself and you can work on the other things, and you can work on your family and work towards a brighter future” – Jermaine Jenas, who was sacked from his roles on Match of the Day and The One Show in August after messages he sent to two women, is returning to work at TalkSport. It is understood some concerned members of staff at the radio station are refusing to work with the former Spurs and England midfielder.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
If we are going to play Adrian Bradshaw’s game (yesterdays Football Daily letters), then in my time I have driven double Big Cup champions Forest slowly into the Championship, hopped on a York City bus riding high from beating Manchester United and Everton and driven it out of the league, been to Bradford (twice) and guided Park Avenue (twice) from the Conference North to the dusty end of the Northern Premier and, whenever I actually have been in Sheffield, I have ensured that the Blades drop to the third tier. The first time I put on a Sheffield United shirt caused the Boxing Day Massacre. To be honest, next time I move I’ll put out a local paper ad suggesting that people send me cash to support their rivals” – Jon Millard.
Adrian Bradshaw may have started something here – but his definition of getting thrashed with alarming regularity (Maidenhead United and Derby’s combined record) is practically Arsenal’s Invincibles compared to the seasons thus far of the two teams I support, who ‘boast’ the shocking form of having between them played 52 matches, winning a mere 11, drawing 17 and losing 24. Whilst I still enjoy going to watch the live matches of National League South’s 22nd-placed team St Albans City, the alarming regularity of Manchester United’s thrashings is enough to put me off as much as the ticket hikes under Big Sir Jim” – Rich Goldthorpe.
Also present at St James’ Park for the semi-final against Arsenal (yesterday’s Football Daily) was Vikingur Olafsson, the genius Icelandic tickler of the ivories who spent last year going round the world playing Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Perhaps he and Johnny ‘Blue Hat’ Davis could join forces for a different toon for the final” – Jason Steger.
Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Jon Millard. We have more David Squires books to give away next week, so get typing! Terms and conditions for our competitions – when we have them – can be viewed here.
RECOMMENDED SHOPPING
Big Website’s bookshop has a host of great new tomes waiting to be added to your basket. There’s Anoraknophobia by Rob Grillo and David Squires’s latest brilliant collection of cartoons: Chaos in the Box. Get shopping!
NEWS, BITS AND BOBS
Manchester City have initiated new legal action against the Premier League, as the champions challenge rules on associated party transactions (APT) for a second time.
The Women’s Big Cup draw paired Chelsea with Manchester City in an all-English quarter-final, while Arsenal will take on Real Madrid.
Current and former Chelsea players and former manager Emma Hayes have come to Sam Kerr’s defence in court, describing her as “selfless” and a “truly special human”. Kerr is on trial in London accused of the racially aggravated harassment of a police officer who doubted her claim of being “held hostage” by a taxi driver. She denies the charges and the trial continues.
Arne Slot can’t guarantee Caoimhín Kelleher a start in the Fizzy Cup final against Newcastle despite the goalkeeper’s regular Wembley heroics for Liverpool in the competition.
Big Sir Jim has been busy workshopping buzzwords to ‘inspire’ Manchester United, with “Project 150”, “Mission 21” and “Mission 1” making it sound like the club will be launching a rocket to Mars. Disappointingly, that’s not the case – he’s just setting targets for an (ahem) 21st men’s title and a first-ever WSL triumph as part of the club’s 150th anniversary celebrations. Women’s team boss Marc Skinner sounded delighted: “It’s difficult, but I welcome that difficulty,” he sighed.
Leyton Orient’s Jamie Donley is not expecting to keep Opta stats bods busy when his team take on Manchester City in the FA Cup. “I might not touch the ball but it will be a great experience for us and hopefully we give them a good challenge,” yelped the on-loan Tottenham forward.
It’s a hat-trick of Premier League gongs for Bournemouth, with Andoni Iraola winning manager of the month, Justin Kluivert player of the month and David Brooks putting the cherry on the top with goal of the month.
And Derby have rammed Paul Warne through the door marked Do One with the club on a run of Championship losses that reads like this: LLLLLLL.
FOOTBALL MANAG … ERR?
Fans of Cherno Samba, catenaccio and unearthing Argentinian wonderkids are observing a period of mourning: Football Manager has been scrapped – for this year at least. FM25 has been officially binned by the franchise after a series of delays and technical hitches. The game’s release date had already been pushed back twice and makes Sport Interactive accept the news would be a “huge disappointment” to the game’s army of fans. Their aim is to create “the biggest technical and visual advancement in the series for a generation” – but that will have to wait until November, when Football Manager 26 is due to land. Full refunds will be available to those presumptuous people who pre-ordered FM25 expecting an actual game to arrive at some point.
ROADS TO WEMBLEY
It’s the FA Cup this weekend and we’re following Leeds in the men’s competition after their shaky 1-0 home win over Harrogate Town in the third round. It’s Millwall next up – and let’s just say both clubs’ sets of supporters have hardly showered each other with gifts over the years (goalkeepers have received surprise objects, though). So we’re expecting a fierce atmosphere at Elland Road despite the kick-off time having been brought forward to 12.15pm. The last time the two sides met (at the Den in November), the Lions came away with a 1-0 Championship win. Will we be following Bermondsey’s finest on Monday? Yikes. We’ll see. In the women’s competition we’re into the fifth round already and may have to take off our gold rosette when Wolves, of the National League Northern Premier Division, host the WSL giants Manchester United. Good luck!
STILL WANT MORE?
It may be the FA Cup fourth round but we’ve still got you covered with 10 things to look out for this weekend.
Roll out the “Ruud awakening” headline for this Michael Butler read on Manchester United v Leicester.
Arne Slot’s machine is rolling on to Wembley with Andy Hunter in tow.
And Will Unwin runs the rule over new Manchester City arrival Nico González.
MEMORY LANE
6 February 1978: Blyth Spartans players celebrate in the bath at the Victoria Ground after their most famous ever FA Cup win – a 3-2 defeat of Stoke in the fourth round. The two-goal hero was Terry Johnson who is showing off his skills yet again by balancing the soap on his head.
