‘Tottenham Hotspur will get it right eventually. I have faith in Roberto De Zerbi to turn things around’ Clinton Morrison tells Spurs hierarchy to stick with under-pressure boss
I’ll start today by looking back at that brilliant goal from Dominik Szoboszlai in an important 3-1 win for Liverpool against Tottenham.
I was actually covering the game for Sky, and I thought: ‘Wow, what a goal that is!’ But that’s not surprising from Szoboszlai. He’s got one of the best techniques I’ve seen in Europe at the moment, when you consider his ability in shooting from distance. He just caught the ball so sweetly and it just arrowed past Martin Dubravka in the Tottenham goal – it was a fantastic strike. It killed the game off at the end of a nervy period for Liverpool, because Tottenham were pushing on and piling on pressure.
Clinton was speaking courtesy of Free Bets, home of the best betting sites in the UK.
‘Dominik Szoboszlai’s technique reminds me of Beckham or Rooney’
There are a few players in the past who struck a ball like that. David Beckham had great technique, maybe not so much from that distance on the ground, but more so from free kicks. Wayne Rooney could also score spectacular goals, so they’re the two players that immediately spring to mind.
Meanwhile, the result was obviously disappointing for Roberto De Zerbi, but I think there were positive signs for Tottenham. Mohammed Kudus was a bright spark, and looked like he’s getting back to good form after being out for so long.
Today’s game against Aston Villa is huge, because they’re yet to score a Premier League goal after four games after all the money that’s been spent in the summer.
But De Zerbi is always going to back his team, and keep belief in the project. The hierarchy will support him and I do think they’ll get it right.
Whatever happens, let’s hope there won’t be any further VAR controversy this weekend after Erling Haaland’s goal was allowed to stand in the Manchester derby. It was a ridiculous decision!
People talk about having ex-footballers in VAR, but my friend who doesn’t play football would have told you it was offside. It’s common sense. I think the referee’s assistant probably flagged thinking Haaland was offside. But then when Haaland’s onside, you’ve got to check that Enzo Fernandez has gone for the ball. He’s interfering with Lisandro Martinez and he’s interfering with Senne Lammens. So he’s interfering with two players. If you can’t see that on VAR, when you can slow it down and see every angle on a monitor, then it’s not good enough. It’s nowhere near good enough, because Michael Carrick‘s under a bit of pressure now.
VAR have got more time than the people on the pitch. The referee and the linesman made a split-second decision. VAR can take their time and it did take their time. And I knew the longer it went, the more I felt they were going to give the goal.
Rugby and cricket do it properly, as you can see how the officials reach their decisions. Whereas in football, you’re just looking at an image. Most football fans would have been looking at that image thinking Haaland looked offside. Admittedly he wasn’t. But then you look at Enzo and go, ‘Well, he’s interfering.’
And then the decision comes, and fans are wondering what’s happening. Then to have these apology statements turns everything into a bit of a farce.
Despite the nature of their win, I’ve been really impressed with Manchester City and their business in the summer. They brought in Elliot Anderson, Ayyoub Bouaddi and Fernandez for close to £300 million, but they’re reaping the rewards. Anderson has been outstanding, while Bouaddi is only 18 and is going to be sensational for years to come. And Fernandez is a top player. They even brought in Allan, a winger who’s a top player. They’ve also still got the likes of Jeremy Doku, Antoine Semenyo, Haaland, Rayan Cherki, and Phil Foden. The list goes on and on with Man City. Even if those players aren’t delivering or doing well, they’ve still got others that can come off the bench.
Their squad depth is fantastic. Just like Arsenal‘s. You see the young man, Max Dowman, starting and scoring two goals against Ipswich Town. Sometimes he can’t even get in the squad! It’s ridiculous the amount of quality these teams have at the moment. I think those two teams are the outstanding ones.
Talking about Dowman in particular, I don’t think he’s going to play as many games as the fans want him to because you’ve got to realise that Arsenal’s squad is fantastic. He’s only 16 years of age, and you can’t just expect him to be good week in, week out. But Mikel Arteta knows how to handle him, and I feel like it’s a similar situation to when Foden was breaking through at Man City and people were saying that it was best for him to go out on loan and play regularly.
He stayed at City, and I think that’s what Dowman will do too. He’s a super-talented boy, and is going to be a world-class player. But you don’t want to throw him into the deep end straight away. You’ve got to manage his minutes. And that’s what Arteta’s doing. This is why the Carabao Cup and cup competitions are good for Arsenal, because players like Dowman get the opportunity to go and showcase their abilities.
He’s got plenty of time to be starting loads of football matches. Just nurture the young man, let him come through and give him minutes in these kinds of games.
