Football365

Tottenham defender Cristian Romero has emerged as an alternative option to Arsenal’s William Saliba as Real Madrid look for a new centre-back, according to reports.

Real Madrid are apparently looking to bring Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold, Manchester City midfielder Rodri and one of Saliba or Tottenham star Romero to the club next summer.

It is a move back to their old transfer strategy of bringing in ‘Galacticos’ or the world’s best players to the Bernabeu with Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe arriving at Real Madrid over the last year or so.

The Independent chief football writer Miguel Delaney insists Real Madrid could be ‘further flush with cash next summer’ and will look to flex their muscles in the transfer market.

Delaney wrote in his column:

‘This summer’s signing of Kylian Mbappe nevertheless marked the start of a new era where the club has been willing to assert its financial power, thanks to a number of recent changes. One is how successful the strategy of targeting younger players was, having brought two Champions Leagues over three seasons in 2022 and 2024.

‘That has restored Madrid’s economic strength and only improved their international commercial profile, to go with how the refurbishment of the Bernabeu is planned to make it a lucrative money-spinning European events centre like the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Madrid may be further flush with cash next summer if Fifa’s newly expanded Club World Cup goes as planned, and the prize money reaches €80m.’

Saliba has formed part of a brilliant partnership with Gabriel Magalhaes at the heart of Arsenal’s defence with the Gunners having the best defensive record in the Premier League last season despite finishing as eventual runners-up.

But it will be hard to get Saliba out of the Emirates Stadium as the France international is now part of a successful Arsenal team who want to compete for titles and silverware.

MORE TOTTENHAM COVERAGE FROM F365…

👉 16 Conclusions as wide-eyed Spurs throw themselves into Arsenal’s well-constructed but entirely obvious NLD trap

👉 Arsenal rubbish but Arteta brilliant in pre-ordained NLD that raises Postecoglou doubts

👉 Spurs top scorers against the Big Six: Son slowly closing the gap on the most obvious of leaders

And that means Real Madrid could turn to Tottenham defender Romero instead with a move to the Spanish capital likely to appeal to the Argentina international as Spurs struggle to compete at the top of the Premier League.

Delaney added:

‘Madrid are meanwhile keenly interested in Saliba as the future of their defence, although there is an awareness right now that he could be the most difficult to sign due to Arsenal’s burgeoning strength. That has ensured Romero has been made a secondary option, which would also fit with an existing business relationship between Tottenham and Madrid.

‘Such a summer would increase the age profile of Madrid, after years where they made a virtue of having the next best talents on the planet. Some within the club have even commented internally about how Mbappe represented such a departure from recent strategy. Perez’s say ultimately has sway over everything, and his insistence that Madrid should always have the best players in the world is well known.’

As the dust settles on the weekend, we ask whether Man Utd expectations should be lower and Arsenal can win anything without a top-class striker.

Send your views on all subjects to theeditor@football365.com

Man Utd expectations should be top four

I’ve thought this for a long time, so I’m glad I finally got around to writing it after a win so it looks less knee-jerky.

But really, at what point do we stop judging United by their ability to win titles and start judging them by a fairer yardstick?

Not sure who said it, and I’m only paraphrasing, but there is a saying “we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act, but a habit”.

Ignoring the “excellence” part because, let’s be fair, nothing has been excellent in the 11 seasons (Jesus Christ…) since Sir Alex retired, let’s focus on the “we are what we repeatedly do” part.

United have finished in the Top 4 in five out of 11 seasons. José did write off one of those league campaigns (Tuanzebe in midfield, etc.) and focused on Europa League as a means of reaching the Champions League, and he actually won it, but still…

Realistically, United have been a 50/50 team when it comes to even getting in the Top 4, so why are we judging Ten Hag and a new United team by their ability to compete with City and Arsenal for the title?

United haven’t been within an arse’s roar of a league title since they won it in 2013. Sure, we finished second twice, but City were over the hill and far away in both of those seasons.

A lot of money has been spent (wasted) by the Glazers in the post-Sir Alex years, and a lot of money has already been spent by INEOS and a new regime put in upstairs, but honestly, apart from click bait and engagement, why does anyone actually think United can compete for the title in the next three years even?

This is a team that finished two of the last three seasons outside of the Top 4 with a goal difference of 0 and -1 (only one of those under Ten Hag before you start).

It’s time that we all realise and accept that finishing in the Top 4 this season would represent progress. And a proper goal difference wouldn’t hurt either!

Without getting too “Moneyball” about it all, 76 points has been good enough for 4th place or higher in each of the last 10 seasons. This 2 points per game tally is a far more reasonable target for Ten Hag and United this season than trying to bridge a 31-point gap to Manchester City in one season.

It’s not a given (nothing is with this squad), but beat Crystal Palace and a struggling Spurs team in the next two league games, and United will be on 12 points from six games. Not glamorous by any means, and I’m sure people will still be calling for Ten Hag’s head, but bang on target for a Top 4 finish.

Cristiano Ronaldo, the media, and the fans, are correct to say United should be challenging for the biggest trophies, but for the last ten years, this has been “Manchester United” in name only.

Quite a few of the United teams in that time have failed to cross a bar I didn’t even realise existed most of my life – actually being likeable to the fans!

Sir Jim and his mates can’t snap their fingers and undo ten years of decline with one signing or some new equipment in Carrington. It’s going to take a long time – regardless of whether Erik ten Hag, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Zinedine Zidane or whoever else you fancy is going to be the manager when they get back to the big time.

INEOS and United had a very good transfer window this year. They will need at least 2-3 more very good transfer windows to be truly competitive again. If United stay relatively injury-free, I’m convinced they’re good enough to finish ahead of Spurs, Newcastle, Chelsea, and Aston Villa with Champions League distractions (the Top 2, in whatever order, plus Liverpool is settled for me).

Finishing in the Top 4, ideally adding another trophy, and playing some decent football along the way – that would be real progress this season. It’s time we all admitted it.

James, MUFC

MORE ON MAN UTD FROM F365:

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👉 ‘Pressure’ ramps up in Man Utd, Liverpool battle for Bundesliga star ready to ‘leap’ to Prem

The Arsenal reality check

Lot of very excited Arsenal fans out there after the NLD win.

Not at all surprising. They were excellent on Sunday. In the absence of Rice and Odegaard, and the lack of a recognised top class centre forward, Arteta set up to nick a 1-0 and executed it perfectly. It was a masterclass in setting a team up in the midst of adversity to win a one off game. They remain the best organised defensive unit in the PL. They will always be a top 3 side because of that alone.

But. BUT.

For starters, it was only Spurs. They haven’t started calling Ange “Aussie Ardiles” for nothing. Also, try parking the bus at a decent team and offering nothing apart from the odd set piece, and see what happens.

Now we come to that lack of a top notch centre forward. That will bite you on the arse. It bit you last season, and the season before. You still haven’t rectified it, so you cannot expect to do better than you did before.

Finally, your bench, guys. Your bench. On Sunday, 5 of your 9 were A. Heaven, I. Kabia, M. Kacurri, M. Lewis-Skelly, and E. Nwaneri. That’s not a bench, that’s a random collection of Pro Evo Master League regens, after you’re about 15 seasons in. Sorry, but you can’t win a league title or a CL with that as your “bench”. It’s laughably weak.

So, by all means – enjoy your derby day, you were brilliant, you deserved it. But temper your expectations. Everything else still points to bridesmaid status once again.

Andy H, Swansea

Spurs are old-fashioned

Something I note about Spurs is how out of date they look. The two dominant styles of play in the prem in the last 10 years have been Guardiola’s possession-at-all-costs approach, and Klopp’s hardcore pressing.

In the last few years, we’ve started to see tactics shift to counter these: either assembling your midfield as a chunky 5 man pentagon (as it were) to force the possession onto the flanks, against the former; or letting your back 5 stand still with the ball in a ‘come on then!’ stance, before ideally zipping through the press gang with a few quick passes (that De Zerbi was big on).

And now teams are countering those counters: 4-4-2 is basically coming back, with teams either shaping it as 4-1-1-2-2 to give more ‘vertical’ levels to get through; and/or using more direct players – 3 centre backs in a back 4 to help at set pieces; Doku-ish wingers to take the ball on when teams are forced out wide; sepia centre forwards allowing teams go back to front quickly when it’s on.

But where in this progression are Ange’s Tottenham at the moment? When he no-mate-ed the media for asking if he would try and get better at set pieces, a lot of people thought this was bluff; that in reality, he would obviously be correcting a mad gap in his team’s defence. Apparently not.

And have they got a real chalk-on-boots number 7/11 to stretch teams out and get round the sides? Is their perma-possession approach leading to anything? Is Maddison given a defined job description, or just given the ball and told to fix a wet attack? Has £60m bought them a champions league standard striker?

Spurs have just hired Ange because he was the opposite of Conte. They are still trying to win 2021’s football matches. Someone at the club with a brain would have seen a 0-0 was on offer on Sunday, from an Arsenal who need to pick their battles right now; and a less kamikaze manager would happily have taken it to put a bad start to the season behind them.

Neil Raines

READ: 16 Conclusions on Tottenham 0-1 Arsenal

Are Liverpool one more defeat away from a crisis?

This might merely be a symptom of me giving less f***s about what is basically a bunch of men chasing a bag of wind around a pitch whilst another bunch of men (mainly) shout at them, but Liverpool’s defeat at the weekend sums up the intrigue of football and why it maintains my interest.

Before the Forest game (kudos to them and the goal was a thing of beauty), everything in Liverpool’s garden was rosy, but they are off to Italy to play Milan in a game that is extremely losable, and it is entirely possible that should they indeed lose that the word crisis will be mooted and they will go into next weekend’s game against Bournemouth very nervously, with Slot under a lot of pressure (and then we will really find out what he is all about).

Now, if only City could have a crisis, well, then the intrigue would ramp up. I’d rather they had one on the pitch, but at this point I will take all I can get.

Mat (it’s only a game fellas)

PGMOL making an Arse of things

It seems like every season the PGMOL start off with some new directive, some new way for the fastidious little gnomes to control and ridicule the game whilst chanting “the letter of the law” like the Sandford Neighbourhood Watch Alliance.

Its usually something fairly innocuous that has little impact but riles the type of person who sits quietly during a group discussion until they can pipe up with smug glee “well actually I think you’ll find…”.

Invariably the refs take to their master’s new orders with gusto and in the first few games we get one decision so scrupulous and pious in its application it results in weeks of discussion and argument amongst fans and the media. Alan Shearer does his fence straddling scrunchy face calling out the new law as ridiculous whilst shaming the player as daft for breaking it, and Football Twitter has a slightly larger than usual meltdown under the weight of all the ‘game’s gone’ posts.

What happens next though it what really bugs me. The refs double down. As if to take pressure off their hyperactive and subsequently hassled colleague they then take his faux par as the new standard and we get months of jobsworth behaviour. They overwhelm us with pettiness to justify their position then when players complain they shrug like they have no part in how the rules are enforced.

A few years back it was a handball in the box, which resulted in months of penalties anytime the ball grazed a defenders arm which wasn’t gorilla glued to their waist or clasped behind their back like and OAP at an art gallery.

This time it’s Declan Rice and the slightest nudge of a ball that was rolling past his foot, the daft idiot. So now, regardless of context or common sense, there is a yellow card for any player who touches the ball after the whistle is blown against their team. This is stupid enough in itself but the knock on effect of such a harmless offence being dealt with so harshly is that even run of the mill infractions are then treated with increased severity.

This weekend thus saw a new Premier League record for yellow card offences with 65 cards shown over the ten games. Taylor managed fourteen in the Bournemouth Chelsea game and following suit Gillett produced seven in just the first half of the North London derby. One commentator even suggested raising the suspension threshold for yellow card offences to even out the new enforcement as if that would solve anything.

This behaviour from refs will of course settle down like it always does into something closer to sanity but this just magnifies how ridiculous the start of the season has become. These annual directives rarely change player behaviour in the long term, the game and human nature are what they are, but they can have significant impact without any meaningful justification. If Rice hadn’t received that yellow and stayed on the pitch would Arsenal have won the game and be level on points with City?

As long as the PGMOL feel the need for a yearly arse twitch and show of importance we’ll continue to see this kind of foolishness.

Dave, Manchester

Really angry about Kovacic

He can’t keep getting away with it!!!

Got round to seeing football highlights today (Monday). Genuinely didn’t care about anything other than the NLD this weekend. Can someone please explain how Kovačič didn’t get sent off for his reckless, out of control lunging tackle through the back of Wissa? Last season I remember him somehow avoiding red against Arsenal.

After the last couple of weeks of hearing squawking rival fans shriek “Letterofthelaw! Letterofthelaw!” over Rice’s gentle tapping of the ball after the Brighton player rolled the ball into his feet I’ve gone over chat from this weekends fixtures and seen no mention of this. I see Wissa’s out for two months, now. City still have Kovačič available. Maybe Arsenal should start playing in sky blue. I kid! I kid! There’s obviously no such thing as subconscious bias in referees…

Simon, Norf London Gooner

P.S. The referee ALWAYS has a choice. Don’t be gaslit.

Commentary on commentary commentary

First-time mailer here.

I’m writing in response to Steve Gilion’s recent mail on football commentary.

While I understand their perspective, I believe there’s a valuable role for commentary in enhancing the viewing experience.

It’s true that commentary can sometimes feel redundant, especially for experienced fans. However, it’s important to remember that not everyone shares the same level of knowledge or understanding of the game.

For less experienced viewers, commentary can provide essential context, insights, and historical perspective.

Furthermore, commentary can offer a unique perspective that goes beyond what is immediately visible on screen.

Skilled commentators can analyze tactics, formations, and player performances in a way that viewers might not be able to fully appreciate on their own.

They can also share personal anecdotes and stories that bring the game to life.

While it’s understandable to feel frustrated by generic commentary, I believe it’s important to recognize that there are also commentators who offer valuable insights and analysis. By providing a variety of perspectives and styles, broadcasters can cater to different viewers and make the game more enjoyable for everyone.

Ultimately, the value of commentary is subjective. Some viewers may find it unnecessary, while others may appreciate the added depth and context it provides.

Perhaps a solution could be to offer viewers the option to choose between different commentary styles or even mute commentary altogether during certain segments of the game.

Mever The Phenomenon, Nigerian Gooner

…I wouldn’t normally espond to a direct comment in the mailbox. And I mean zero malice. But this one sort of forced me.

I had just spent Saturday afternoon listening to Patrick Boyle’s excellent video about tech bros reinventing things and pretending they are new.

So when I read SC, Belfast: Commentary corner I was reminded of Boyle’s video. It is completely true that commentary on most sports, football included, is laughably silly. It is seldom insightful and often silent for long periods of time. Which is why many of us turn down the audio.

However, let us not forget that they are still commenting on television coverage. Which means virtually everyone is seeing the same thing the commentators are seeing. I often find it ironic when the commentators are describing an event I just witnessed and it is seldom convincing. I fail to see the value in this.

Having said that, there should absolutely be coverage of a footie game or any other sporting event, that describes the action for those not present or incapable of watching the television coverage of said event.

It’s called radio.

This is why so many Leaf fans turn down CBC, TSN or Sportsnet when watching beloved Toronto Maple Leafs. W crank up Joe Bowen on the radio instead because his coverage is better by orders of magnitude.

But there is simply no reason to try and reinvent television as radio. It is already there.

Sean, Roseville, Ontario, LFC (Holy Mackinaw, Joe!)

On that Carlingsmen XI

That was an absolute banger of an email from Craig Bridgeman. Had me remembering a few players I had completely forgotten about. Mails like this one is what keeps me coming back to F365 for more.

Also, Neil Raines, before the second half started, I tweeted that Tielemans would have one of his patented worldies against Everton in minute 72.

Glenn Hoddle has urged Ange Postecoglou to drop one his key Tottenham tactics as they lack the ‘X-factor player’ to make it viable.

Spurs have now lost seven of their last 11 games under the Australian boss after they fell to a 1-0 defeat in the North London derby on Sunday.

Gabriel Magalhaes scored the only goal of the game from a corner and while Postecoglou’s side huffed and puffed they were ineffective in the final third against stubborn Arsenal defence.

For the first time it seems Postecoglou is under pressure and Spurs legend Hoddle has told the former Celtic boss to reconsider his tactics going forward.

Explaining what went wrong against the Gunners, he said on talkSPORT: “The inverted fullbacks worked last season to a certain degree, but I look at Tottenham now and they’ve got some very good players, but if [Heung-min] Son’s not on fire they haven’t got an X-factor player at the moment.

“I feel like the inverted fullbacks have been sussed out. They can out-possession most teams, probably only Manchester City [have more possession].

“I think Arsenal knew Spurs could out-possession them and they banked in and made it very difficult to break them down.”

“What frustrates me is that unless you’ve got a [Kevin] De Bruyne or David Silva at his very best, people who can unlock a door, it’s very difficult.

“They’re trying to go through the eye of a needle, they’ve got so many men in the centre of the pitch so it’s impossible to get through the centre.

“They need that width, they need to try a different style to open teams up because as soon as teams bank against them [it doesn’t work].

“If they go 1-0 up in games like against Everton [4-0 win] they can counter then and I think they look better when they’re shifting the ball quickly on the counter, but that’s where I feel the next step needs to go, they haven’t got enough quality in the final third even though they get in some wonderful positions, the crossing was abysmal yesterday.”

MORE ON THE NORTH LONDON DERBY FROM F365:

👉 16 Conclusions as wide-eyed Spurs throw themselves into Arsenal’s well-constructed but entirely obvious NLD trap

👉 Arsenal rubbish but Arteta brilliant in pre-ordained NLD that raises Postecoglou doubts

👉 Arsenal man ‘chose the dark arts’ as Sky Sports ‘refuse’ to say sorry

Ally McCoist asked whether Hoddle thinks James Maddison can be the guy to unpick opposition defences.

“He’s got the ability,” Hoddle replied. “But if I’m playing No.10 I’m looking around me and I’ve got so many bodies in there there’s no space with the two inverted fullbacks.

“It’s like Piccadilly Circus in the middle of midfield sometimes. These wide men, if they’re going past their fullbacks and getting great crosses or shots in that would be fine, but they’re struggling, they need movement off them, once Spurs go wide there’s not enough movement.

“You see it with City, they make these lovely little blindside runs into the penalty area and they use them and use the space, there’s none of that with Tottenham.”

Pundit Alan Shearer lauded two Arsenal stars after Mikel Arteta’s side beat arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 in Sunday’s North London derby.

Arsenal returned to winning ways on Sunday afternoon as they beat Spurs at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

F365 Live: Join Tickers to talk Postecoglou sack prospects, Slot woe, and all Prem topics…

Arteta‘s team defended superbly as they ground out a much-needed victory without Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard, who were unavailable.

The Gunners dropped points in a draw against Brighton before the international break, so they are two points behind table-toppers Manchester City, who have won their opening four Premier League games.

The North London outfit face Man City at the Etihad this weekend and this match could be key in determining who wins the Premier League title this season.

After Arsenal’s win against Tottenham, Shearer claimed Arteta has “got the best back four in the Premier League”.

“I think once Arsenal go 1-0 up against you, they’re tough to get back, because they are – they’ve got the best back four in the Premier League, without a shadow of a doubt,” Shearer said.

READ: 16 Conclusions as wide-eyed Spurs throw themselves into Arsenal’s well-constructed but entirely obvious NLD trap

“They don’t give hardly anything away, Spurs just kept trying to put hopeful balls into the box and Arsenal dealt with it easily. They deserved the three points Arsenal, without playing particularly well, which has to be a good sign.”

Shearer has also singled out Arsenal duo William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes for praise.

He added: “They are big, they are strong, and they don’t mind a battle. In fact, they love a battle and a challenge.

“They just got rid of everything that came into the box they were absolutely magnificent.”

MORE ARSENAL COVERAGE ON F365…

👉 Lineker reserves special praise for Arsenal ‘warrior’ against Spurs as he makes title prediction

👉 Arsenal win NLD but one man makes it into worst Premier League XI of weekend

👉 Arsenal: Neville picks one change Arteta should make against Man City after Spurs win

“When you go one goal behind against this arsenal team you have got to do something special to get back because it’s very very tough.

“They’ve got the best back four in the Premier League there is no doubt about that. The way they operate, the way they work, they way they are protected.

“Spurs didn’t have an answer today – not for the first tie this season – but in the end, they ended up just lumping balls into the box which are food to these two centre-halves.”

Speaking post-match, Arteta revealed what he “loved” about Arsenal’s win against Tottenham.

“Super happy obviously. We know what it means to our club and our people to win a north London derby,” Arteta said.

“We had good moments and others where we had to suffer. We suffered because we had to adapt the plan because of the players that we had available.

“I loved it. The second we started to get that news (Odegaard injury), the team got hungrier and hungrier to play that game. It’s a big compliment to everybody at the club to behave in a certain way.

“It’s a tough week coming and instead of finding any excuses we did the opposite. We faced the challenge, played with courage and acknowledged the qualities we had to win the game.

“We have people that are hard and have thick skin. They love the game and we love winning.

“In order to love the game and win you have to do things that people call ugly. Enjoying those ugly things is a big compliment to this team right now. When you’re able to do that, normally you get a good gift.”

Tottenham defender Cristian Romero has insisted he was tired after the international break because of a lack of proper logistics from the club’s leadership.

Spurs lost the North London Derby on Sunday to arch-rivals Arsenal with a Gabriel Magalhaes second-half header enough to give the Gunners all three points at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in a 1-0 win.

Tottenham had over twice the amount of shots that Arsenal did on Sunday but the Gunners’ defence stood up to the challenge and kept a clean sheet.

But Romero and his fellow Spurs defenders couldn’t keep out Gabriel’s effort with the Argentina international partially to blame for Arsenal scoring their winning goal.

And Romero has suggested that Tottenham were also potentially at fault for his disappointing display against the Gunners with the 26-year-old sharing a post from Argentinine TV reporter Gaston Edul before later deleting his share.

The post accused Tottenham of failing to provide their international players returning from duty with “proper logistics” to make sure they came back in top condition ahead of the derby.

Edul wrote on X: “Tottenham lost to Arsenal again. They weren’t able to fight until the end because they weren’t across the details.

“It was the only Premier League club that made their international players return, on their own and without proper logistics, on the decision of the club’s leadership.

“They gave away the advantage because their players arrived with less rest than the others: Cuti Romero played with tiredness.”

MORE ON THE NORTH LONDON DERBY ON F365

👉 Mailbox: Arsenal no ‘bottlers’ as Eddie Howe lauded as ‘generational talent’

👉 16 Conclusions as wide-eyed Spurs throw themselves into Arsenal’s well-constructed but entirely obvious NLD trap

👉 Arsenal goal ‘a foul’ as Tottenham star ‘good at kicking people’ slammed for role in Gabriel winner

Both Romero and his Tottenham team-mate Guglielmo Vicario came in for criticism after the match for Gabriel’s match-winning header on 64 minutes.

Speaking on Sky Sports’ co-commentary, former Manchester United defender Gary Neville said: “The goalkeeper’s rooted.

“He heads it three yards out, he’s free, and Romero, the centre-back, is picking up Gabriel.

“It’s really poor from the Argentinian, but I’d want my goalkeeper to come for it. He gets blocked and then he ends up rooted.”

It is not the first time Vicario has struggled from a set piece since joining Tottenham with former Spurs midfielder Jamie Redknapp calling out the goalkeeper too.

Redknapp added on Sky Sports: “Teams pray on Vicario’s weakness from set-pieces – because people have seen Vicario’s weakness, they stick loads of players in front of him.

“Tottenham, they have gone for man-to-man so they are all obsessed with their players and it is a little bit selfish.

“Yes, Romero is good at kicking people, but when it comes to stuff like that he has got to do better.”

Gary Lineker has hailed Arsenal centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes as “a warrior” after the Gunners beat Tottenham 1-0 in the North London Derby.

Arsenal took bragging rights on Sunday with Gabriel’s second-half header giving the Gunners all three points at the Tottenham Hostpur Stadium.

Doubts were cast ahead of the match of Arsenal’s title credentials after Man City’s 2-1 win over Brentford and the unavailability of Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice for the Spurs match.

However, Arsenal are now two points behind Pep Guardiola’s side with the Gunners able to leapfrog Man City next weekend if they beat the Citizens at the Etihad Stadium.

Gabriel has formed a brilliant partnership with William Saliba in the heart of the Arsenal backline with the Gunners possessing the best defence in the Premier League last term.

And they have the joint-best defence this term too with Liverpool and Mikel Arteta’s side only conceding a goal each in their first four Premier League matches.

“It wasn’t a great game or a great spectacle actually,” Lineker said on The Rest is Football podcast.

“I was expecting it to be a bit more end-to-end but Arsenal are so hard to beat, they defend so well, they really do.

“We often talk about [William] Saliba but that partnership with Gabriel is very strong. Gabriel is a warrior, isn’t he?

“He’s a player you’d really want on your side. And he does chip in with the odd goal. He’s tough to mark in the box and a real threat.”

MORE ON THE NORTH LONDON DERBY ON F365

👉 Mailbox: Arsenal no ‘bottlers’ as Eddie Howe lauded as ‘generational talent’

👉 16 Conclusions as wide-eyed Spurs throw themselves into Arsenal’s well-constructed but entirely obvious NLD trap

👉 Arsenal goal ‘a foul’ as Tottenham star ‘good at kicking people’ slammed for role in Gabriel winner

Arsenal boss Arteta was happy with his side’s dogged defensive display against Tottenham and was delighted to get the three points without Rice and Odegaard.

Arteta said after the match: “Super happy obviously. We know what it means to our club and our people to win a north London derby.

“We had good moments and others where we had to suffer. We suffered because we had to adapt the plan because of the players that we had available.

“I loved it. The second we started to get that news (Odegaard injury), the team got hungrier and hungrier to play that game. It’s a big compliment to everybody at the club to behave in a certain way.

“It’s a tough week coming and instead of finding any excuses we did the opposite. We faced the challenge, played with courage and acknowledged the qualities we had to win the game.

“We have people that are hard and have thick skin. They love the game and we love winning.

“In order to love the game and win you have to do things that people call ugly. Enjoying those ugly things is a big compliment to this team right now. When you’re able to do that, normally you get a good gift.”

Gary Neville thinks Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta should make just one change for their next match after beating Tottenham 1-0 in the North London Derby.

Gabriel Magalhaes scored the only goal of the game as the Gunners got local bragging rights on Sunday and closed the gap on title rivals Manchester City to two points.

With Arsenal dropping points against Brighton before the international break, it was key for them to pick up the three points over the weekend to keep their title challenge on track.

Declan Rice’s suspension and an injury to Martin Odegaard left Arteta with a selection headache ahead of the fixture with Gabriel Martinelli and Jorginho coming into the side to replace the missing duo.

And following their narrow win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Manchester United legend Neville reckons Arteta will keep the Arsenal side the same for their next Premier League fixture, apart from bringing Rice back in for Jorginho.

Neville said on his own Sky Sports podcast: “I think he [Rice] will come in just for Jorginho and then leave it as it is. I think Trossard did well in that role – the number 10 – so I don’t think he’ll change that.

“I think he’ll keep it simple. I don’t think Mikel Arteta is doing anything nowadays that is surprising us and I say that in a positive sense and a complimentary sense.

“He’s got such confidence in his own team and how they play he doesn’t need to try and think of fancy different systems or shocking anybody with the team selection. He’s got stability.

“When you’ve got stability and an 11 that works together well and you can just change one or two then there is no need to do anything clever.”

MORE ON THE NORTH LONDON DERBY ON F365

👉 Mailbox: Arsenal no ‘bottlers’ as Eddie Howe lauded as ‘generational talent’

👉 16 Conclusions as wide-eyed Spurs throw themselves into Arsenal’s well-constructed but entirely obvious NLD trap

👉 Arsenal goal ‘a foul’ as Tottenham star ‘good at kicking people’ slammed for role in Gabriel winner

Before facing champions Manchester City at the weekend, Arsenal have a Champions League clash against Atalanta on Thursday as they look to get their European campaign off to a perfect start.

And Neville doubts that Arteta “will be doing mass rotation” of his side against Atalanta with maybe a couple of key changes to the Arsenal attack.

Neville added: “You can trust the 12 or 13 players that are his best players. He might bring in [Gabriel] Jesus and [Raheem] Sterling on Thursday night but I don’t think he will be doing mass rotation.

“You can’t afford to do that and I don’t think you should do that. You have to trust that these players are capable physically of handling a Sunday-Thursday-Sunday [schedule].”

Silly Spurs stumbled directly into a very obvious if immaculately-constructed Arsenal trap. Plenty of thoughts here on Arteta, Ange, Vicario, Romero and woke kit nonsense…

That lack of creativity in the middle of the park goes a long way to explaining Arsenal’s failure to create much from open play here, but that Spurs themselves struggled just as much is a huge win for an Arsenal back four who did their jobs almost immaculately.

Scoring the only goal secured man-of-the-match honours for Gabriel, but it could just as easily have been William Saliba or Jurrien Timber. Those three in particular plus David Raya – Ben White had a slightly sketchier time at right-back – were the main reasons Arsenal left their local rivals with the result they wanted and needed.

And we absolutely know Nicolas Jover – lauded by Arteta after the game – will have loved it because if ever there were a set-piece coach who loves to see a plan come together, it’s that man.

Leicester and Newcastle were happy enough to let Spurs have the ball. We admittedly can’t truthfully say Everton, bless them, had any real say in it. But Arsenal here seemed to positively crave not having the ball. To the extent on some occasions that they seemed really quite alarmingly keen to hand it back in wildly unnecessary fashion. We think those were mainly errors, because it was generally Jorginho responsible and he was one Arsenal player who really didn’t appear to be enjoying himself all that much.

M’colleague Will Ford called it the most obvious of all the goals and it’s impossible to argue. The country’s best team at scoring from set-pieces against one of the very worst at defending them always felt like a case of when not if. Two of Arsenal’s goals in the 3-2 win here back in the spring came from set-pieces and the perfect way this one came together for Arsenal was an unimprovable microcosm for the game itself.

Guglielmo Vicario is now very literally a marked man. He has to find a solution to his set-piece disappearing act, or he is cooked. That would be a real shame because he is in almost every other way a superb goalkeeper.

But this inability to make his presence felt at set-pieces is going to wreck his career in Our League if he can’t find an answer soon. He had already flapped at one corner here, the ball grazing his knuckle on the way through before Arsenal uncharacteristically muffed the chance to put him under more pressure from the follow-up.

That reprieve only ever felt temporary, and so it proved. As two Arsenal and two Tottenham players tussled right in front of him, Vicario was simply unwilling or unable to get involved despite the set-piece thundering off the head of Gabriel only three yards in front of his starting position.

Cristian Romero was all too easily shoved off it by Gabriel and wasn’t even able to compete for the ball as the Arsenal defender powered it beyond the hapless Spurs keeper.

It was yet another moment to encapsulate far wider moods and vibes around these teams and their players.

We’re all familiar with the long-standing trope of YouTube highlight reels that can make the most humdrum attacking player look deceptively brilliant but even before this error we found ourselves wondering if Romero isn’t a rare and also unimprovable example of the defensive equivalent.

There are, for better and worse, very few more obvious or more visible defenders than Romero. His often violent mistakes are legion, but his very best work is absolutely captivating. Even here, just moments before it all went wrong for him, he’d completed some trademark, eye-catchingly heroic work in the right-back position.

It would be so easy to put together a 15-minute compilation that makes Romero look like the finest defender who ever lived. But it also feels like he’s costing his team a goal a week.

They didn’t have much of the ball because they didn’t want much of the ball. It is absolutely the way to play against this Spurs team, and while Arteta would presumably have liked to see rather more attacking verve from open play, the point is he’d set his team up in such a way that it wasn’t actively necessary. Not here.

There’s an enduring although now finally faltering myth that this Spurs team is a good attacking one. It isn’t. Sure, they will have days where everything clicks and anyone might get picked off, as Aston Villa found out six months ago. But that’s kind of the point: it was six months ago. It’s only happened against terrible teams since, and even then only sporadically.

Spurs have scored 21 goals in their last 15 Premier League games. They play like they are Man City, planning to dominate the ball and backing their ability to unlock any defence. But they can’t: they can only unlock really sh*t defences. If you don’t have one of those – and Arsenal demonstrably do not have a sh*t defence – you should be mainly fine.

Indeed, it’s now compellingly easy to make a case that the extent of Tottenham’s control of possession in almost all their matches, and the sheer number of bodies Angeballed into the attacking third to assist it, is now actively hurting them at both ends of the pitch.

They are a team who live constantly on edge with regards to the threat of teams counter-attacking them, but with the greater irony being that Spurs themselves actually look far more compelling an attacking side in swift counters of their own in which wide players are released and midfield support arrives late, rather than their now staid stock-in-trade of passing it around for three or four minutes before Brennan Johnson makes a disappointing decision or Dejan Kulusevski shoots narrowly over the bar from 20 yards.

But it’s still an idea that had a fair amount of appeal before today’s game and even more so after it. Arsenal are a side that can win when they don’t play well; Tottenham a team that can and frequently do lose when they play well.

The key element there, though, is that Spurs ‘play well’ only on their own terms. They clearly aren’t that bothered about not being able to defend set-pieces, or they’d have tried to do literally anything about it over the summer. They clearly aren’t that bothered that all their possession and territory and touches in the opposition box and other signs of supposed dominance leads to vanishingly few actual goals or even chances, or they’d have tried doing something about that as well.

On commentary, Peter Drury – in between his usual absurd nonsense, which today featured a line about airing dirty linen and some baffling old sh*te about the Postcode Lottery – frequently put forward the idea that both these sides might feel like they could and should have won all three of their previous games this season.

Arsenal had won two and drawn the other, a game in which they’d led 1-0 before having a player controversially sent off. They have also developed a method that wins matches an awful lot of the time. So yeah, they probably did feel that way.

Spurs, on the other hand, have battered an Everton side still on zero points in between drawing at Leicester and losing at Newcastle.

Sure, Spurs might feel like they should have won all those games, and indeed this one. But they would be wrong. At some point you have to acknowledge that it’s not really feasible to just be that damn unlucky that damn frequently.

In all three games Spurs bossed all those metrics like they usually do, and did again today. And now in three of those four games they have actually created very little while conceding catastrophically avoidable slapstick goals. Which again is not a new feature they’ve only just introduced this season.

Which does all make you wonder, doesn’t it? At what point does this stop being a bit of bad luck and start being evidence that actually this just isn’t really working any more? And an impish yet perfectly fair response to that question might be ‘several months ago, mate’.

Since that wild 4-0 win at top-four rivals Villa in March, Spurs have now played 15 Premier League games and won just five of them. Three of those wins have come against teams who are no longer in the division, one against an Everton side that might not be after this season the way it’s shaping up and the other a home win over Nottingham Forest in April that, fair’s fair, looks slightly better now than it might have a couple of days ago.

In that same run Spurs have now played seven games against other members of the ‘big eight’ – teams they might consider their natural rivals. They’ve lost all seven of those games, very often convincingly.

It’s increasingly hard to escape the idea that good teams have now completely worked them out, while a thumping defeat at Fulham and draws against West Ham and Leicester suggest pretty much anyone who isn’t in a truly terrible place can have a decent crack at them more often than not. It’s an awfully long time to go without a single win against anyone who isn’t a relegation candidate.

Arsenal’s midfield troubles were significant, but also only one part of the reason this was such a starkly difficult day for Arteta and his team. We already know they’re trying to do what not even Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool at their very best could do and stand toe-to-toe with Man City for a third consecutive season. The near flawless standard it requires must be utterly exhausting, and the fixture list following that Brighton setback was not kind.

With City making their way merrily and flawlessly to 12 points, Arsenal came into this game at their local rivals already five points adrift and facing a trip to City next weekend. An entirely plausible worst-case scenario, therefore, of being eight points adrift and already out of the title race. Impossible not to think about that. Even a draw here wouldn’t really have done any good if it was followed by defeat at City and a seven-point gap.

It takes some mental fortitude to go into a game under those conditions and emerge victorious with a gameplan that leaned so heavily upon inviting an at least theoretically dangerous opponent on and winning a third game in a row at their stadium.

And yet Arsenal never wavered or deviated from that plan. They sensed what was coming. They trusted the process. It’s been so long since the last goalless North London Derby that Emmanuel Adebayor played in it – for Arsenal. But just as it seemed like another might somehow materialise, the mistake Arsenal had counted on arrived as they knew it always would. And with equal certainty, they pounced upon it.

Bukayo Saka ended the day with the matchwinning assist but would be the first to acknowledge he had one of the quietest days he will have ever had as an attacking threat from open play. That was in large part down to the way he sacrificed his own game to the team’s overall plan.

A lot of great teams are characterised by the speed in which they can turn defence into unstoppable attack, but Arsenal’s finest quality may be the opposite and the speed with which they can turn attack into perfectly organised, impeccably drilled defence. Not once was Son Heung-min given one-on-one freedom to go past Ben White and having open ground in which to run.

There was one moment in the first half where he sent the Arsenal right-back for a hot dog only to find Saka still in his way. Saka sacrificed his own attacking potential to ensure Spurs’ was kept as limited as it could be, just as the plan dictated.

Not even Spurs’ shiny new stadium or Arsenal’s unnecessary (for multiple reasons) Lynx Africa away kit could stop this feeling like NLD heritage, so hats off to both teams for that.

And we’re not remotely convinced that all black against a Spurs kit that has just about as much navy blue as a Spurs kit can have is in any way a better solution to a problem we’re not at all sure even existed.

Above all, though, there’s this. A Spurs home shirt should not have all-navy sleeves. Yet the one game a season where that might actually be a legitimate benefit, to contrast with the white sleeves of Arsenal, has now been wasted. And also that this is the second time that’s happened, because when Spurs last had navy sleeves in 2005/6, Arsenal had their all-redcurrant Highbury farewell kit. Not the most important element of the day, sure, but still a silly one.

A harsh yellow card for Rodrigo Bentancur started a flurry of cautions that could easily have sent the game spiralling out of control, especially as the game’s one significant flashpoint came soon after.

For what it’s worth, Gillett got that one right and deserves plenty of credit for regaining full control of proceedings in the second half.

The big decision was, of course, yellow or red for Jurrien Timber after his studs found their way into Pedro Porro’s shins via the top of the ball.

We’re a bit on the fence with these tackles. We can see why players attempt them; done right it’s a way to win or retain possession while keeping control of the ball and placing a physical barrier between it and your opponent.

But while the benefits are clear, it equally clearly comes with risk because if it goes wrong it can be very dangerous and at the very least produce alarming-looking freeze-frames of studs hitting shin as the ball slides off the top of the ball.

For us, it all comes down to control. Players attempting this kind of tackle do so knowing that getting it wrong will be at least a yellow and gives both referee and VAR the chance to go bigger, so it’s always high risk. Think about where you see these kind of tackles happen, and it’s very often in the offending player’s attacking third – that is, in a spot where retaining possession is a sufficiently tempting reward to justify the inherent risk.

Sometimes it’s also because it’s an attacking player and they can’t tackle very well, but that’s not the case here as Timber showed in the rest of a brilliant display.

He took a risk, and it didn’t pay off. But what he didn’t do was lose control of the challenge as, say Curtis Jones did in a very similar part of this pitch last year or Cristian Romero does with every tackle he’s ever attempted. Timber’s foot does not continue with the same force after sliding over the top of the ball. It’s clearly not a good tackle in the end, but there’s nothing wild about it.

We don’t think VAR would’ve been in any rush to overturn it had Gillett opted for a red card, but yellow felt right on this occasion. The difference between this and Jones is undeniably subjective, but it’s a difference we would contend absolutely exists.

This is no short-term blip, this is an increasingly significant body of evidence. It’s a longer and worse run of form than the one that did for Mauricio Pochettino five years ago, a manager who had far more credit in the bank. It’s now 42 points from their last 32 games, and the trend is downwards. Since the win at Villa in March, it’s 17 points from 15 games. It’s 10 from the last 11. Since March, only Everton and Wolves have lost more Premier League games than Spurs.

They sit 13th in the league and appear wedded to an approach that requires doing all of the same things but expecting different outcomes. The general mood may not (yet) be so bleak as in the dog days of Antonio Conte’s joyless final season, but the sense of a club and team drifting along unable to escape its own self-fulfilling solipsism is undoubtedly back.

Spurs’ current run of results is one that means Postecoglou, less than a year after being anointed as Spurs’ latest messiah, must come under pressure.

And the scariest thing for Spurs fans may not be whether or not Postecoglou can or should survive it, but whether it makes a blind bit of difference either way.

Paul Merson is adamant the Arsenal goal shouldn’t have stood but Cristian Romero has been slammed for his role in Gabriel’s winner on Sunday.

The Gunners were far from their best at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium but preyed on Spurs’ weakness from set pieces to claim all three points, with Gabriel rising unchallenged to nod the ball past Guglielmo Vicario on the hour mark.

Spurs huffed and puffed in response but rarely troubled David Raya at the other end and limped to defeat.

Merson claimed Romero had to do better as Gabriel got the better of him from Bukayo Saka’s corner, but also reckons the Argentinian was fouled by his fellow South American.

“I would be disappointed if I didn’t get a foul,” Merson said on Sky Sports. “(Romero) is in the wrong position, everything is wrong about his defending. He’s an international centre-half.

“Even I know, and I don’t play at the back, that you’ve got to be side-on, seeing the ball and your player. To start off with you’ve got to be a hand-length away (from him), and he was standing with him. I do think… I’d expect a foul. I would expect a foul.”

Gary Neville was similarly critical of Romero but pinned the majority of the blame on Vicario, who ended up moving back towards his line rather than coming to claim the ball.

“The goalkeeper’s rooted,” Neville said on co-commentary.

“He heads it three yards out, he’s free, and Romero, the centre-back, is picking up Gabriel.

“It’s really poor from the Argentinian, but I’d want my goalkeeper to come for it. He gets blocked and then he ends up rooted.”

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Jamie Redknapp, on punditry duty on Sky Sports, agreed with the assessment and suggested Romero would be well served to spend less time “kicking people” and more time improving his ability to defend set pieces.

He told Sky Sports: “Teams pray on Vicario’s weakness from set-pieces – because people have seen Vicario’s weakness, they stick loads of players in front of him.

“Tottenham, they have gone for man-to-man so they are all obsessed with their players and it is a little bit selfish.

“Yes, Romero is good at kicking people, but when it comes to stuff like that he has got to do better”.

Mikel Arteta paid tribute to his Arsenal players and one man in particular after they brushed off a string of high-profile absentees to claim an “ugly” 1-0 win at rivals Tottenham.

This north London derby had been billed as potentially make-or-break for Arsenal despite being the middle of September after the Gunners dropped points at home to Brighton before the international break.

Manchester City’s fourth consecutive Premier League win on Saturday coupled with the unavailability of captain Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice and Mikel Merino cast doubt over Arsenal’s title credentials, but they answered them superbly in N17.

After a dogged defensive display, centre-back Gabriel headed in the only goal after 64 minutes to keep the visitors within touching distance of City before next weekend’s trip to the Etihad.

“Super happy obviously. We know what it means to our club and our people to win a north London derby,” said Arteta, who this week saw Odegaard join the suspended Rice and injured Merino on the sidelines after suffering an ankle issue on Norway duty.

“We had good moments and others where we had to suffer. We suffered because we had to adapt the plan because of the players that we had available.

“I loved it. The second we started to get that news (Odegaard injury), the team got hungrier and hungrier to play that game. It’s a big compliment to everybody at the club to behave in a certain way.

“It’s a tough week coming and instead of finding any excuses we did the opposite. We faced the challenge, played with courage and acknowledged the qualities we had to win the game.

“We have people that are hard and have thick skin. They love the game and we love winning.

“In order to love the game and win you have to do things that people call ugly. Enjoying those ugly things is a big compliment to this team right now. When you’re able to do that, normally you get a good gift.”

Spurs had started strongly with Dejan Kulusevski denied by David Raya before Dominic Solanke sent a header wide.

Arsenal also had moments on the break with Gabriel Martinelli squandering a good opening not long after Kai Havertz had a header saved by Guglielmo Vicario.

The second period followed a similar pattern initially with a Solanke header deflected wide and Micky van de Ven able to test Raya, but Tottenham’s set-piece kryptonite hurt them just after the hour.

After Saka saw a shot blocked by Pedro Porro, his in-swinging delivery from a corner found Gabriel, who brushed past Cristian Romero to power home what proved the winner.

Arteta lauded set-piece coach Nicolas Jover after Arsenal clinched a third straight win at the home of their rivals.

He added: “In his field, in other fields, as a person, the relationship that we have, that’s why I made the decision to bring him to City when I was there and then to Arsenal.

“Him and the staff have injected a belief to the players that there are many ways to win football matches. This is a really powerful one. It’s given us a lot so big compliment to all of them.”

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Like in last season’s derby defeat at home, Spurs were undone by a set-piece, but Ange Postecoglou played down the growing narrative around his team.

“I know for some reason people think I don’t care about set-pieces and it’s a narrative that you can keep going on for ages and ages,” Postecoglou said.

“We work on them all the time, like we do for every other team.

“You know that they’re a threat. As I said, for the most part, we handled them really well today, but we switched off for one and we paid a price and you learn from that and you move on.

“It’s my burden to carry, mate and I’m happy to do that. For me, there’s a bigger picture that’s at play here that’s much more important than the finer details of us getting to where we want to.

“For us, the way forward is to try to turn the football we’re playing now into something meaningful.”