Football365

Alan Shearer has claimed that Tottenham Hotspur will be in a “massive relegation battle” this season on one condition.

For the last two seasons, Tottenham have finished 17th in the Premier League, and they had to secure survival on the final day of the 2025/26 campaign.

And despite spending over £300m on signings this summer, Roberto De Zerbi‘s side have made a poor start to the new season.

Tottenham have been toothless in attack this season, but their general play has been promising and they should have beaten Man Utd convincingly last weekend.

On Monday night, Tottenham face newly-promoted Coventry City, and Shearer admits they “need a win massively”.

“I think there was definitely optimism in the performance against Man United,” Shearer told Betfair.

READ: Conte to Man Utd, Simeone to Arsenal, Frank to Fulham: Every Premier League club’s next manager revealed

“They missed some big chances, Solanke scored one, but he missed three or four big chances, as did others, and I think when you look at the performance overall, I thought it was much improved, much more energy and much more structure to it.

“I’ve always said the time to worry is when you’re not creating the chances and that wasn’t the case at Old Trafford. They created plenty.

“So, if that was to keep on going, they could have a little bit of hope, but they desperately need that win. I know they did really well when down to 10 men, coming back and getting a Solanke goal. So, that in itself will give them a bit of confidence, but they need a win massively.”

“I think they’ll be in a massive relegation battle…”

However, Shearer thinks Tottenham face another “massive relegation battle” if they do not beat Coventry in their next match.

Shearer added: “If they don’t beat Coventry on Monday, then I think they’ll be in a massive relegation battle, and I think that’s how big a game it is.”

Fellow pundit Paul Merson has hit out at Tottenham’s decision not to sign Aston Villa-newbie Nicolas Jackson this summer.

“They only thing they probably could have done with – and what they should have done – is they had to get a centre forward,” Merson told Sky Sports.

“They went out of their way for a few players, did a bit of this and that. I like Sandro Tonali, I’m a big fan of this. But they had to get a centre forward.

“Dominic Solanke is better than alright. But he’s not yet an actual goalscorer. When Spurs robbed United of the ball in the first half and he goes through on goal, you don’t sit there and go: ‘goal’. You just don’t.

“And Omar Marmoush isn’t going to give you goals. He’ll get you’re a worldie here or there, but he’s not a goalscorer. They needed a goalscorer. I can’t believe Spurs didn’t go for Nicolas Jackson. He’s decent.”

According to reports, Tottenham Hotspur star Pedro Porro wants to leave the Premier League club and has chosen between Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Tottenham have not been right with a lot of signings over the past few seasons, but Porro has proven a sensational addition as he has developed into one of the best right-backs in Europe.

Porro boosted his reputation by shining for Spain at the summer’s World Cup, and he is now said to be looking to leave Tottenham in the coming months.

The Spurs standout has been heavily linked with Barcelona and Real Madrid in recent weeks, and a report from Spanish outlet Cadena Ser claims he has decided on his next move.

READ: Eight shocking figures as new report highlights football’s looming ‘financial disaster’

Pedro Porro chooses between Barcelona and Real Madrid

The report claims Barcelona are Porro’s ‘first choice’ for his next move, though Real Madrid are not giving up and ‘see a possibility’ of signing him from Tottenham.

The report explains:

‘If his club’s performance doesn’t improve, the player from Don Benito fears he could be left out of the squad for the European Championship.

‘Right now, Pedro Porro’s first choice is Barça, but, as Pacojó Delgado points out on SER radio , he doesn’t rule out a reverse Rodri scenario . “If Real Madrid comes calling, knowing that Trent Alexander-Arnold isn’t convincing at full-back, there might be an option,” he says.’

Porro would be a huge loss for Tottenham, with the summer exit of Brighton-newbie Luka Vuskovic also proving a significant blow.

Tottenham sanctioned Vuskovic’s move to Brighton after signing Jan Paul van Hecke from their Premier League rivals, but the Seagulls look to have got the better of these deals.

Now, a report from Football Insider claims Brighton feel that they have been gifted a ‘£100m talent in the making’ with Vuskovic.

The report claims: ‘The 19-year-old has made an outstanding start on the South Coast, and is already attracting attention from Bayern Munich, who are long-term admirers of him.

‘However, the Seagulls are under no pressure to sell the starlet at the moment, and are well aware that Vuskovic’s price tag will only continue to rise.’

Former Italy striker Antonio Cassano has ripped into Tottenham Hotspur star Sandro Tonali in a brutal attack on his country’s current midfield options, while also suggesting the north London club massively overpaid for their record signing.

It’s been a woeful start to the new season for Roberto De Zerbi’s side, who currently sit 19th in the Premier League table after six games and remain without a win.

There were, at least, some positives stemming from Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Manchester United, where Tottenham dominated, went behind, had Rodrigo Bentancur sent-off but still managed to earn a late draw courtesy of Dominic Solanke’s header.

One of the players who led from the front during a feisty contest was £100million summer signing Tonali, who was outstanding in the middle of the park and even switched to left-back late in the game as De Zerbi brought on more attackers from the bench.

READ: Lewis family increase stake in club as Levy slowly being squeezed out

The Italy international has looked anything but a £100m player to start the new season, with the 26-year-old struggling to replicate the form that convinced Tottenham to plash out a record amount for his services.

And it appears that Cassano is not a fan at all, coming off the back of a long international break where Tonali started three of Italy’s four games and played 262 minutes in total.

Tottenham mocked over record Tonali fee

Indeed, despite chalking up an assist at Old Trafford and producing his best display in a Spurs shirt to date, Cassano, who is a regular on the Viva El Futbol podcast, spoke about the midfielders that Italy have available to the national team right now.

And the former frontman made it clear that he isn’t a fan of many of them, including Tonali, who he believes isn’t as good as Inter Milan star Nicolo Barella.

Cassano said, via FCInter1908: “Behind Barella, there are people worse than him. Also, in my opinion, he’s both poor and overrated; I’ve been saying this for years, and you know it.”

Offering more opinion on Tonali, he added: “€110m for Tonali, €110m, madness, he’s really poor too. All coaches can have ideas.

“Tonali at €75m for Newcastle and €110m for Tottenham, it means it’s right that I’m out of football.”

READ NEXT: Premier League Power Rankings – Erling Haaland top but Brighton star rises to second

Tonali will be hoping to build on his display at United when Spurs host Coventry City in their next outing on the Monday Night Football.

One thing that will have to change quickly, though, is Tottenham’s home form, with the north London outfit having lost 22 home league games since the start of 2024/25 season.

A new report has revealed how Manchester City’s FFP breaches may have cost clubs £844m, with Tottenham Hotspur the ‘most impacted’.

During the international break, it was confirmed that Man City have been found guilty on 114 of their 115 charges after being accused of breaching the Premier League’s FFP regulations between 2009 and 2018.

In the findings, Man City were deemed to have produced several ‘sham’ deals to show fake revenue of around £900m, and this laid the groundwork for an era of dominance under Pep Guardiola.

However, Man City continue to insist on their innocence and have appealed the initial verdict, but they face serious sanctions if they cannot overturn the verdict.

Man City’s potential punishments include a fine, transfer ban, points deduction, expulsion and/or being stripped of their Premier League titles.

READ: Erling Haaland to Fulham as Man City players get drafted

There are also several potential knock-on effects, including a massive squad exodus if they are relegated and rival Premier League clubs suing Man City.

Other Premier League clubs can be justified in feeling angry at Man City over the loss of earnings and opportunities, and a new report from BBC Sport has shed light on how FFP breaches could have cost clubs £844m.

Tottenham Hotspur ‘most impacted’ as £844m loss of earnings mooted

The detailed report from BBC Sport has calculated the ‘potential financial impact of Man City’s spending’, with the ‘Premier League placing money, relegation costs, missed Champions League prize money, domestic cup competitions and the Europa League’ used to value the total impact on clubs at ‘£844m’.

Man City, meanwhile, earned ‘£1.17bn’ for their success in the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup.

In terms of individual teams, Tottenham are said to be the ‘most impacted’, with Man City’s breaches costing the north London club £119.9m.

This is because Spurs missed out on the Champions League in four of the eight seasons that Man City qualified between 2009 and 2018, while they had significantly reduced revenue in the Europa League. There were also losses from City finishing above Tottenham in the Premier League for six seasons in this period.

Hull City are second in the ranking with losses of £99m, while Everton are third with £66.4m, Swansea City are fourth with £63.1m and Newcastle United are fifth with £60.5m.

Further down the list are Liverpool (£52.3m), Chelsea (£45.7m), Arsenal (£30.8m) and Manchester United (£18.3m).

The Lewis family have increased their stake in Tottenham Hotspur off the back of their recent £120million cash boost, with former chairman Daniel Levy’s slice of the club shrinking as a result.

The family, who own the north London club through investment company ENIC, have backed Spurs’ attempts to rebuild their status as a top Premier League side, with £320million injected over the past 12 months.

Vivienne Lewis and her son-in-law Nick Beucher have taken a more active role in backing CEO Vinai Venkatesham and non-executive chairman Peter Charrington, with the family resisting interest from various parties to sell over the past two years.

The latest £120million injection for working capital has now officially increased the family’s stake in Spurs to 89.06 per cent and, after Levy did not take up the opportunity to match the cash boost with his own relative part of it, his ‘slice in ENIC’s pie at Tottenham has dwindled from being 29.8 per cent in October last year to 27.38 in June this year and now 25 per cent after two missed injection opportunities’, as per the report from Football.London.

READ: Premier League sack race – New favourite after El Sackico lacks knockout blow, but what of Maresca?

The north London club’s investor relations page on their website now reads: “Of the total issued ordinary share capital of Tottenham Hotspur Limited, ENIC Sports, Inc. ownership is 89.06% (from 88.30%) to reflect shares allotted in September 2026. ENIC also owns the one THL convertible A share.

“Mr D Levy and certain members of his family are potential beneficiaries of discretionary trusts which ultimately own 25% of the share capital of ENIC. A discretionary trust of which certain members of Mr J Lewis’s family are potential beneficiaries ultimately owns 75% of the share capital of ENIC.”

Levy was ousted as Tottenham chairman in September 2025, having been in charge of the club for 24 years, and was linked in June with selling a large portion of his stake in ENIC to British Virgin Islands-based company Eight Sports Capital after they claimed the 64-year-old had signed a sale and purchase agreement with them.

As per the report, Eight Sports Capital is spearheaded by ‘two leading forces involved in two of the three rejected Tottenham takeover bids last year’.

One is Wing-Fai Ng, the CEO of American entertainment company Triller, which owns Eight Sports. The other is tech entrepreneur Brooklyn Earick, who is the CEO of Eight Sports.

There was a third new person involved, namely Taiwanese billionaire Richard Tsai, who also owns Triller as well as Fubon Financial Holding Company, one of the largest financial conglomerates in Asia.

Lewis family make firm promise after domestic failures

After narrowly avoiding relegation on the final day of last term, and finishing 17th in the Premier League for the second successive season, the Lewis family took the step of releasing their first-ever message to the supporters to assure them that failure would no longer be tolerated.

“To the fans, As owners of 25 years, we have lived the highs and lows of Spurs with you,” it read.

“Finishing 17th this and last season does not reflect the stature or potential of this football club. We are bitterly disappointed and share your frustration. You, and we, expect more than this. We know this must never happen again.

“Our approach to running the club is, and has been, to trust the experts to do that, while backing them to be successful. The problems we found were deeper than we realised and were allowed to build over the last few years. We know that has eroded trust and we have to win that back. As owners, we take ultimate responsibility for the situation in which the club finds itself.

“We also take responsibility for rebuilding Spurs. Our ambition is to recapture the spirit of the club and bring back the excitement, the fearlessness and the bold football we have always felt defined us. That means football comes first. The Board and Executive team have laid out their plans to meet this ambition.

“This will require investment – in our teams, the academy, our backroom functions and more – and we are fully committed to this. We are not selling the club. We are all in. We are investing in it. You will see more of this in the coming months.

“We care deeply about Spurs. The rebuild the club needs, and you deserve, has begun. The change required is deep. It will take time and commitment, but change is happening. We know that actions will speak louder than words. The Lewis Family.”

READ NEXT: Shearer rips into ‘awkward’ Tottenham star after Man Utd draw – ‘Nowhere near good enough’

While over £300m was spent over the summer, Tottenham are yet to win a Premier League game this season, although they did at least climb off bottom with a 1-1 draw at Manchester United over the weekend.

They will have the chance to add that elusive first three points of the campaign next Monday, however, when fellow strugglers Coventry City head to north London.

The worst XI of the Premier League weekend features half a dozen players from one club but, somehow, no Florian Wirtz…

The Liverpool star has been getting pelters following the continuation of his poor form in the 3-0 defeat to Manchester City. But Wirtz padded his stats enough to escape inclusion here.

Instead, we have an XI with six from one club, supplemented by a Forest forward, Spurs sub, Leeds attacker and Villa defender.

Here is the worst XI, according to WhoScored ratings, from the weekend of matchday six.

GK: Djordie Petrovic (Bournemouth) – 5.23

A second appearance this season in the worst XI for the Bournemouth goalkeeper, despite being graded highly elsewhere. Conceding five from an xG of 1.10 while being beaten twice from outside the box by Jordan Hendiesta will do that.

RB: Adam Smith (Bournemouth) – 5.33

No tackles, no clearances, no crosses, no accurate long balls and no wins from the three duels he competed in at Chelsea. But he wasn’t the worst Bournemouth defender…

CB: Antonio Silva (Bournemouth) – 5.02

A wretched afternoon for Silva, who could have done more to prevent all the Chelsea goals not scored by Jordan Henderson. He may have deflected in Chelsea’s second; gifted them their third; and lost Joao Pedro for the fourth.

CB: Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa) – 5.48

The Villa defender gave away possession while trying to dribble out from the back before Brentford opened the scoring early on, though Villa had enough time to recover prior to Yehor Yarmoliuk’s finish. Mings’ mistake earns Virgil van Dijk and Pascal Struijk (both 5.9) a reprieve.

LB: Ryan Giles (Hull City) – 5.97

Very often there’s one player in the worst XI perhaps unfortunate to be included, but Giles was the lowest-scoring left-back or left wing-back after just over an hour against Everton in which he won no tackles or duels (he competed in only one of either) and found only a Toffees defender with all of his six attempted crosses.

CM: Rodrigo Bentancur (Tottenham Hotspur) – 4.96

Subbed on in the 66th minute; sent off in the 78th. Bentancur managed three touches while failing to find a team-mate before clashing with Luke Shaw. Which earned him a kiss off Roberto De Zerbi, so it’s not all bad.

CM: Tyler Adams (Bournemouth) – 5.45

The Cherries defensive midfielder didn’t attempt a tackle let alone win one and, even more damningly, lost all eight duels he entered.

RW: David Brooks (Bournemouth) – 5.84

Brooks was hooked at the break having lost possession with a third of his 15 touches with only two forward passes from or into the Chelsea half.

CM: Noah Okafor (Leeds United) – 5.77

If you came here looking for Florian Wirtz… 6.37. Instead, Okafor gets the nod despite having a hand in Leeds’ opener at Arsenal, but he did lose possession a dozen times while playing off Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s left shoulder.

LW: Marcus Tavernier (Bournemouth) – 5.58

The Bournemouth winger had an off day amid a positive start to the season, completing only one of eight attempted crosses while losing all but one of a dozen duels.

CF: Liam Delap (Nottingham Forest) – 5.87

Forest endured the sort of inexplicable and infuriating afternoon that quite literally every single fan on earth believes only ever befalls their own club, including an astonishing miss from Delap as one of two big chances squandered.

Tottenham have no intention of replacing Roberto De Zerbi as head coach, according to reports, despite another week without a Premier League win.

Spurs went behind at Old Trafford on Saturday when Bryan Mbeumo put Man Utd ahead on 73 minutes to pile pressure on to De Zerbi’s side.

However, Tottenham showed a bit of steel by coming from behind to salvage a point in second-half injury time when Dominic Solanke bagged an equaliser in a 1-1 draw, despite Spurs earlier going down to ten men when Rodrigo Bentancur was sent off.

Tottenham have endured a tricky start to the season with De Zerbi’s side still winless after six Premier League fixtures, while they remain in the relegation zone despite a point at Old Trafford.

After De Zerbi helped save Tottenham from relegation last campaign, ENIC spent over £300m on new signings to make sure Spurs found themselves well clear of the drop zone this term.

It seems likely that Tottenham will pick up some more results in the coming weeks with two newly-promoted sides in their next five Premier League fixtures.

READ: Tottenham closely watching red-hot striker with €100m release clause

There is pressure building on De Zerbi to get that first win of the season but TEAMtalk insists that the Spurs hierarchy are ‘fully behind Roberto De Zerbi and have no plans to make a change in the dugout’.

Internal sources have told TEAMtalk ‘that the club remain convinced the Italian is the right man to lead their project’ and bring their new signings together.

The website adds in their exclusive: ‘Despite the disappointing early results, TEAMtalk understands that there has been no consideration of a managerial change, with Tottenham continuing to support the former Brighton and Marseille boss as he looks to turn the club’s fortunes around.

‘The north London side are also relaxed about De Zerbi’s own commitment to the job, with sources insisting that there are no concerns over the Italian walking away from the project.’

Despite Bentancur being sent off for headbutting Luke Shaw, De Zerbi praised the Tottenham midfielder for showing “character”.

READ: Shearer rips into ‘awkward’ Tottenham star after Man Utd draw – ‘Nowhere near good enough’

De Zerbi said: “I kissed Rodrigo, and I said thanks, because it’s clear it’s a mistake from Rodrigo, because it’s not the right reaction in football, but now Tottenham needs to react.

“Sometimes the reactions are not nice, not positive for the team, but I think in that moment, in 10 players, maybe we played with more courage, we played with more energy, and we changed the game.

“From a long time Tottenham played without this blood, this character, and I want it. Now I am the coach, and I want to see this character every game, because Manchester United in the second half showed character, not just the quality.

“Just with the quality, we can’t win the games.With the qualities, with the character, with the right energy, I think we are going to win many games, and we are going to score many goals.”

Alan Shearer insists Dominic Solanke has been “nowhere near good enough” as the BBC pundit hit out at the Tottenham star’s “awkward” display in their 1-1 draw with Manchester United on Saturday.

It was Solanke’s flicked header in stoppage time that secured a point for Spurs at Old Trafford, but the striker missed two earlier chances as Roberto De Zerbi was again let down by his side’s finishing.

Tottenham dominated the hosts and should have been out of sight before Bryan Mbeumo gave United the lead against the run of play.

READ: 16 Conclusions from Manchester United 1-1 Spurs: Carrick sack, De Zerbi, Fernandes no-show, Savio

Solanke’s smart 92nd-minute header was his first Premier League goal of the season and just his 13th in 48 appearances for Spurs, and Shearer insists the 29-year-old needs to be more productive.

Shearer said on Match of the Day: “It’s nowhere near good enough, only once in double figures when you consider the money they paid for him [£55m].

“Just watch how awkward and how little confidence he has here, because of his desperation to get it onto the right foot here. Naturally, you move the ball out three yards on your left foot and hit it, if he had the belief.

“The lack of movement here: a goalscorer gets himself into the middle of the goal; where’s he going? When he says they need to be more clinical, he needs to be more clinical.”

‘We need this Dominic Solanke’

But De Zerbi was full of praise for Solanke after the games he explained why he gave him the captain’s armband for the trip to Old Trafford.

De Zerbi said: “Dominic deserved to be a captain today, because he suffered maybe too much, because Tottenham didn’t win, Tottenham didn’t score, who is the striker of Tottenham, Solanke is not good enough.

“It’s not true… Solanke is good enough to play, maybe he is the best striker for us because he is a complete player, he has personality, he has to feel good in terms of physical condition, but he is a great player and I wanted to show my confidence, the importance I give him in this team.

“I decide who is the captain. Today, after the last game, the criticism, I wanted to put him captain to show my confidence and the confidence of the team, because all other players were happy when I said Dominic Solanke captain. When one player of us is in a difficult situation, all other players and staff and myself, we have to show to be close with him, like a family, like a team, like a normal team.

“If you analyse the behaviour in the goal area when he scored today and in goal area in the last game against Villa in our stadium, you can see totally different behaviour, totally different energy, and we need this Dominic Solanke, because Dominic Solanke is able to make the difference in this team.”

Time is running out for ‘nice guy’ Michael Carrick at Old Trafford as one ‘pathetic’ Manchester United star has become ‘another stick to beat him with’ after a draw with 10-man Tottenham.

He may well have been ‘set up to fail’ by the Red Devils bosses but that’s not stopped the calls for Antonio Conte.

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com.

Carrick out

Unsurprisingly, Spurs were the better team for the majority of the match. The worst Tottenham team I’ve seen since they were sponsored by Holsten (apart from last season, obviously) should’ve maybe been 3 or 4 nil up at half time.

Even when we went 1-0 up we were still shit. Then Spurs went down to 10 men. So we did the United thing. We f***** it up.

We’ve got Atletico Madrid away next. And then, more importantly, we’ve got an away fixture against a very, very good Leeds United team.

I love Michael Carrick. He seems like a genuinely nice guy and he was an incredible player for us, but he’s not good enough.

Carrick out.

Ant MUFC (that result certainly doesn’t help Eddie Howe’s estate agent)

READ: 16 Conclusions from Manchester United 1-1 Spurs: Carrick sack, De Zerbi, Fernandes no-show, Savio

Butchering ‘The Butcher’

Whoever named this guy the butcher has to be found and made to explain themselves. Everton game, the most pathetic attempt at a clearance by defender gave the assist for their first goal. Ipswich, a direct mistake led to their second. Fulham, an own goal that makes you scratch your head in disbelief. And yesterday, took on the role of a magician, performing a vanishing act so perfect that the average striker that was his opponent easily headed home.

We have played 6 premier league games, and this dude has made serious mistakes in four of them. Yet, he will always play. Another stick you can beat the coach with.

Somehow, very soon, the board, even accounting for their incompetence, will realise that a football match is played for 90 minutes, not for the 20 when this expensively assembled squad suddenly remember oh wait we’re actually supposed to be playing some football here aren’t we? And then the coach will go.

Olu, Calgary (Can the rest of the league petition the FA to always start their game against United with 10 men?)

Blaming Bruno

Martinez got away with one start of the second half grappling with Solanke instead of getting himself in a good position to defend, Solanke really should have scored. Didn’t learn, cost us 2 points at the end be doing the exact same thing.

Tielemans looked off it and Baleba did very well when he came on.

Mainoo is an absolute class act.

Cunha did his best work defensively or in transition.

Mbuemo was mostly quiet and does his best work off the right side.

Diallo needs another spell as backup he was miles off it.

Zirkzee looked lively.

Not sure what Mount is there for.

We lack a focal striker massively in this team a proper #9.

I have one massive observation.

It’s those little 1%ers that seperate the haves from the have nots.

United are currently a haves not because we’ve played some of the dross early on and are struggling massively.

Gibbo (MUFC – down under)

Carrick forever the caretaker

He just has a ’caretaker’ aura that won’t be shifted.

Sixyardbox, Stockholm

United We Stood

Trusting Ferguson’s legacy to deliver now is like trusting a hooker to come back with the coke you paid her for. She is long gone. So is Ferguson. And with him went the fear, the aura and the titles.

It’s been thirteen years since United’s last league title. Back then, David Moyes had a future, BlackBerry still made phones, and United were champions.

BlackBerry and Moyes have moved on. United haven’t.

“Thirteen years, different managers, different players, same trophy-shaped hole.”

The club has since run through managers at a rate that rivals Downing Street.

The dressing room door spins even faster. Record signings arrive to fanfare and leave to the same. The dinner lady is still too dizzy to comment.

The back four no longer park the bus. They drive it straight into their own net. Sky Sports then wheel out Gary Neville to break it down, and his post-match analysis confirms he remains United’s longest-serving defender.

Leicester City weren’t even in the Premier League when United were last champions. They aren’t today. But they still pulled up to the drive thru, grabbed a title at the window, and drove off before United had even placed their order.

The infamous 20 Titles banner is thirteen years old now. Once a symbol of how feared the club was, it now hangs dripping wet beneath a leaky Old Trafford roof.

United are now Liverpool in the nineties, with the same selective memory, just as much whinging about a crown they haven’t worn in over a decade, and a TikTok account to post about it.

It’s time for the Theatre of Dreams to wake up. They say the title will come again. History says it can.

Just don’t ask Huddersfield Town.

– Miles Out –

Cheers and look forward to hearing back.

Bhavish

READ: Neville blasts Man Utd ‘in hibernation’ under Carrick; he’s ‘seen enough’ of Red Devils pair

Calling Conte

Dear football gods:

Please make Antonio Conte to Manchester United happen.

Peter G, Pennsylvania, USA

Carrick set up to fail

To quote F365 from the end of the summer, “Yet as the transfer window ebbs away there’s a gnawing sense when looking across that United squad that Michael Carrick is being set up to fail with a creaking defence and a midfield still short of energy”.

I would certainly make the argument that Manchester United have the worst back four talent-wise in the Premier League, and, you know, one can optimistically hope that Baleba might help when he gets up to speed, but at the same time, I can’t see how Carrick is to blame here when he has this collection of players at his disposal.

David, out of Atlanta now

Spursy Man Utd

With this result (conceding a 90th minute equalizer to a 10-man Spurs), have Manchester United now established themselves as the Spursiest team in the Premier League?

Does Spursiness, in fact, work like a heavyweight title belt, passing from the previously most Spursy team (often, but not always, Tottenham Hotspur) to whoever manages to faceplant against them in the most comically Spursy fashion?

And follow up question, did Johnny Nic retire from F365 (I will miss you, Johnny!) specifically to avoid accounting in full for his nuclear “Carrick’s United will win the Premier League” take of this August?

Seb, NW3

The mythical Red Cartel

Alright, it’s great that MAGA, sorry, City fans are all singing from the same hymn sheet, but surely it’s worth pointing out a few facts with regards to this mythical red cartel? Firstly, Liverpool – a presumably strong member of said cartel, hadn’t won the league in 30 seasons. So the cartel-ing was hardly working.

Moreover, the implication of the red cartel and PSR is that the successful clubs just outspent everyone, and that was all that was needed to win at football. Can’t imagine why City think that. Come fellow readers on a history lesson!

The Premier League began in the 92/93 season. For the next 10 seasons, Arsenal or United won the league, with the exception of Blackburn, once. We’ll come to that. It wasn’t until Roman’s billions came in that another club got a look. QED, the Red Cartel must have been spending their way to glory!

But, in that time, the mighty Arsenal led the spending table…0 times. Oh but Fergie always did it right? United topped the spend exactly twice. Newcastle actually ‘won’ the spending the most, 3 times, and Blackburn twice, even Liverpool and Leeds had a ‘victory’.

Contrast that with City in the accused period, when they were the top spenders in 7 of the 9 seasons.

Could it be, fellow football fans, that maybe having Fergie and Wenger as generational managers might have been more of an impact? If only we could see what happened before and after those two? Ah yes, until last season, once the two greatest premier league managers left, neither of the red cartel won the league. Despite spending.

So unless this ‘red cartel’ was designed to keep LFC from winning and used its fortunes to clone two managers, it doesn’t seem to have been very good at its job.

Ryan, Bermuda

The Anfield bearpit

I suspect lots of people are expecting a bearpit reception for City tomorrow in Liverpool and at Anfield but I’m not so sure.

The noise from fans has some anger in it, justifiably so but as much sadness and regret at what was lost.

Meanwhile City’s players and staff remain bullish in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. It says so much about the mindset of the super rich and those who live under their gilded umbrella. They believe, actually they know ultimately they are untouchable. The levers of power sit in front of them to pull at their will making Prime ministers and governments dance to their tune. They can literally sink or save economies with the power of their wealth.

So yes there might be some booing tomorrow, maybe even a few witty chants and a banner, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear some Hillsborough chanting from sections of the away support.

Ultimately though City are a much stronger team than us and we’re missing our two form attackers, they will probably win or certainly not lose. Because at the end of the day the rich don’t lose, like that posh prick in the inbetweenwers they can say with confidence “I never lose”

We the fans are the losers, this game that has been sold to us is now a chimera for the wealthy to distract us while they plunder and destroy our planet.

So yes we can all tune in to enjoy the illusion of City getting punished and humiliated but ultimately money and power wins in this world and we are all about to receive a lesson in our insignificance I fear.

Maresca smiles and laughs, Haaland smiles while his bank account explodes, Pep walks about without a care in the world, money wins lads while we fight amongst each other over their creations.

Dave (not feeling hopeful in case you missed it) LFC

READ: Ranking the funniest possible outcomes of Liverpool v Man City

Unai Fawlty

Watching Unai Emery celebrate Villas second goal on match of the day definitely gave off Basil Fawlty vibes, or is it just me?

Andrew Goonerabroad Brown

Savage the saviour

Due to the focus on some creative accounting in a parochial, backwater league, Football365 is once again guilty of ignoring the biggest story in world football.

I speak, of course, of the appointment of Robbie Savage to the hot-seat at London Road, PE2. A polarising character with voluminous trousers, he has made a fine start to his tenure including a first away win in 15 games at Leicester. Things had very much stagnated under Luke Williams, the joy had been sucked out of the team and a (normally) free scoring side had retreated into their shell. One of the things Robbie Savage seems particularly good at is connecting with the fans and his unbridled joy at winning seems to be contagious.

There are now green shoots of recovery; some potentially very good young players have been signed (Williams, Edwards, Feeney), alongside some academy products who look comfortable at this level and probably higher; Mendonca looks a cultured defender and then there is the jewel in the crown, Bolo Shofowoke, who could be the finest product from the academy ever.

Reasons for optimism finally after several seasons of disappointment!

Roberto De Zerbi “liked” Rodrigo Bentancur’s red card in Spurs’ 1-1 draw with Manchester United as “for a long time Tottenham played without this blood, this character.”

Spurs looked to be heading for their fourth defeat in just six games this season when Bentancur was sent off for head-butting Luke Shaw in the 78th minute, shortly after Bryan Mbeumo had given United the lead.

But Dominic Solanke flicked in a header in the second minute of stoppage time to salvage a point for Tottenham, who remain in the relegation zone on just three points, but had plenty of positives to take away from the game.

“I kiss Rodrigo and say thanks,” De Zerbi said in his post-match press conference.

“In that moment maybe with 10 players we played with more courage, more energy.

“For a long time Tottenham played without this blood, this character.”

READ: 16 Conclusions from Manchester United 1-1 Spurs: Carrick sack, De Zerbi, Fernandes no-show, Savio

After Bentancur slid in recklessly on Shaw, the Red Devils left-back shoved the Uruguayan in the chest and sent him sprawling.

Bentancur reacted by planting his head in Shaw’s face, leaving referee Stuart Atwell no option but to send him off.

De Zerbi admitted it was a “mistake” by Bentancur, but insisted it was a moment of “character” that Spurs sorely needed.

“I kissed Bentancur in the dressing room because we need this type of reaction, this character. Football is character,” he told Sky Sports.

“I liked the situation with the red card. We need at this moment the situation, not to bring a red card but we need to not accept the defeat.”

‘We showed we are a team’

Tottenham should have been out of sight after a first half in which they created several big chances, only for their finishing to let them down, and De Zerbi grew increasingly frustrated on the touchline as they again missed opportunities after the break to take the lead.

This is just the fourth time the club have failed to win each of their opening six games of a league season, after 2008-09, 1955-56 and 1912-13, but Zerbi was pleased with the performance of his side.

“Today has been the game where for the first time this season we showed we are a team,” De Zerbi said.

“We played for the team-mates, we played together, we stayed inside of the game in every situation and we attacked as a team and defended as a team.

“I’m very happy because I’ve seen the right spirit, the right character and I want to start from this character, this reaction, this behaviour.”

“Now the target is to build the team,” De Zerbi added.

“We are a great group of players but we are not a team yet and to be a team is to play for the team-mates, suffer together, attack together.”