While some members of the media pretend that Mikel Arteta has got het up, others pretend that Man Utd have £80m to spend.
We’re playing those mind games together
Trying to breathe life into the Carabao Cup at the semi-final first-leg stage is a tall order, but The Sun have approached the task in typical Sun style: By pretending that there have been some ‘mind games’, two of the most powerful words in the football lexicon.
Which is absolutely valid as long as you literally do not read a word that is said by either.
EDDIE HOWE does not care that nobody likes Newcastle as they prepare for another fiery clash with Arsenal.
Not sure that’s ‘mind games’, lads. And frankly, hold the back page if a football manager claims he DOES care what rival managers and fans think.
Having watched the press conference in question from Howe (that’s a long half-hour), a reporter makes him laugh by repeating one of his “rare stand-out quotes” that he was not in the business of making Newcastle United popular.
It’s a joke precisely because Howe is never knowingly interesting, so he was more than happy – after a reminder – to repeat the notion. The question was not about Arsenal, but came in the wake of both Unai Emery and Ange Postecoglou voicing frustration at Newcastle’s tactics.
It could not have been further away from ‘mind games’. But wait…The Sun’s back page Howe AND Arteta are ‘ramping up’ the mind games. So what has Arteta said?
‘Arteta is confident the Arsenal faithful will create a better atmosphere than Toon’s St James’ Park.
‘He said: “I admire the Emirates, 100 per cent. The way we can fill it with our people is incredible.
‘“I am positive we will create a big one against a really good opposition. We are in the semi-final of the cup and want to win. Let’s go for it.”’
Not a lot in there about St James’, is there? Nothing, you might say. In fact, Arteta pointedly said about Newcastle: “They’re a tough opponent for everybody because they’re a really good side, they’re really well coached, they have really good individual players. The same as it’s difficult to play against us.”
Oddly, The Sun don’t mention those quotes as they await ‘another fiery clash’, just a few months after Newcastle beat Arsenal 1-0 and Arteta said: “We deserved to lose today. I thought we started really well and were really dominant. We didn’t defend the box well enough. Credit to them. They scored a great goal with a good ball.”
Ooh, stand back for the inevitable fireworks; things are getting awful toasty.
Great expectations
Over on the back page of the Daily Mirror, ‘Mikel Arteta has admitted he is expected to deliver a trophy this season’.
And then literally in the sixth paragraph of the article: ‘Arteta said: “Would I like it? For sure. Expected? I don’t know because we know the level of opposition that we have in games.”‘
Almost like he absolutely did not admit he is expected to deliver a trophy, and absolutely did not ‘insist that he is still under pressure to win silverware’. Though we would love to see a football manager arguing with the media and insisting that “yes, I am under pressure…pile it on.”
At the Daily Star, there is no time for nonsense about the Carabao Cup when you can pretend that ‘UNITED FACE WINDOW WAR OVER STAR’, despite the ‘star’ in question – Viktor Gyokeres – being incredibly unlikely to move anywhere in this window, and absolutely certain not to move to Manchester United.
We are told by Jeremy Cross that ‘BAYERN MUNICH want to hijack Manchester United’s bid to sign Swedish strike sensation Viktor Gyokeres’.
Can Bayern Munich ‘hijack’ a ‘bid’ that you made up yourself?
Manchester United do not have £80m to spend in January, Gyokeres does not want to leave Sporting in the middle of another potentially title-winning season, Ruben Amorim has promised not to sign any Sporting players in January, and Man Utd are currently 13th in the Premier League table. Other than that, it’s a goer.
Now Cross claims that their plans have suffered a ‘huge blow’ that is presumably not included in the four compelling reasons above.
Apparently, Bayern want Gyokeres and now they are in ‘pole position’. Succinctly, we bring you the verdict from an actual German football expert…
— Florian Plettenberg (@Plettigoal) January 7, 2025
So close
But we’re all in the business of pretending something will happen in January, not least The Sun:
‘WHAT Arsenal do in the current transfer window could be the difference between hunting Liverpool down or seeing another title tilt end in heartbreak.
‘The Gunners are so close to a first Premier League title since 2003-04.’
So, so close. Just the six points behind in the Premier League table having played an extra game, in the same form as Bournemouth and currently 5/1 second favourites. It’s basically almost in the can.
