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Hello! A fifth Carabao Cup for Pep Guardiola. A morning of goalkeeping reflection for Mikel Arteta.
Coming up:
😬 Kepa’s Wembley blunder
💰 Orlando to seal Griezmann deal
🔽 When big clubs go down
Goal assist… from a divot
Caught out: Kepa blunder costs Arsenal as Man City win League Cup
Life as a goalkeeper can mean money for old rope. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that the composition of a football team’s line-up leaves room for only one.
In England, for two reasons, second-choice options come out to play in the Carabao Cup. Reason one is that the sheer number of fixtures imposed on top clubs makes squad rotation essential, and the Carabao Cup is the competition where coaches cut corners (a lesser priority, generally speaking). Reason two is that even the most patient reserve expects a game from time to time.
So it was that Kepa Arrizabalaga turned out for Arsenal in yesterday’s final at Wembley and committed the error, above, that set Manchester City on their way to winning it. His fumble of a cross early in the second half, presenting Nico O’Reilly with a header he couldn’t miss, lit the fuse of a contest which seemed to have no fuse, until Kepa’s butterfingers moment.
In the biggest of competitions — the Premier League and the Champions League — Mikel Arteta invests everything in David Raya as Arsenal’s last line of defence. Raya isn’t error-free, but he’s the safer pair of hands. But having trusted Kepa throughout their Carabao Cup run, he wasn’t going to drop him at the last hurdle — even though, as James McNicholas writes, doing so would have been “brutally pragmatic” and typical of Arteta’s thinking.
It’s worth saying that at the opposite end of the pitch, City were doing the same: fielding James Trafford ahead of Gianluigi Donnarumma, for identical reasons. Trafford’s early triple save from Kai Havertz was immense. But Kepa came in fairly cold, fluffed a simple catch, and Arsenal’s trophy drought goes on. The best part of six years have passed since they or Arteta won anything of note.
O’Reilly: Fan’s fairytale
The chances are that even without Kepa’s mistake, a City victory was coming. Their performance at Wembley was the most Pep Guardiola-esque display they’ve delivered in months: territory and unabated passing, squeezing Arsenal to death.
O’Reilly — a City fan who grew up in their academy — scored two headers in the space of four minutes, to which Arsenal had no answer. Rayan Cherki showboated with keepie-uppies (above). Guardiola danced a little dance after the second goal, as happy as he’s looked all season. From time to time, you’ve found yourself doubting if City still had the old magic in them.
For Arsenal, it’s a case of lick wounds and go again. The Premier League is there to be won, even if a quadruple of trophies is no longer possible (as TAFC says regularly, quadruples are not far off an impossibility anyway). The chances of City catching them are slim. But yesterday’s defeat will make Arteta think.
News round-up
It’s been on, it’s been off, but Antoine Griezmann’s proposed transfer from Atletico Madrid to Orlando City looks like it has the green light. After appearing in Atletico’s La Liga defeat to Real Madrid last night (more on that shortly), he’s flying to the U.S. to wrap up the formalities. He’ll officially join in the summer.
Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is taking legal action against world-renowned sailor Sir Ben Ainslie. They’re in dispute over a boat they built for the last America’s Cup, purportedly worth £180m.
In more positive United news, the club are close to agreeing new contracts with Harry Maguire and Kobbie Mainoo.
The fallout from the Confederation of African Football’s decision to strip Senegal of their Africa Cup of Nations title continues to mount. Senegal’s World Cup shirts won’t feature a star denoting the 2025 triumph.
Here’s some random, football-related beef: ex-Arsenal and Chelsea midfielder Jorginho got into a war of words with singer Chappell Roan over the weekend. Jorginho said Roan’s security team left his daughter in tears. Roan has since apologised.
Preston North End midfielder Jordan Thompson received a three-match ban after he kicked a water bottle, which hit a fan, during a Championship game at Norwich City.
Too big to go down? Tottenham sink closer to relegation with Tudor on edge
Stuart James published a great piece last week on what it’s like when a big club crashes out of the Premier League. Eirik Bakke, the Norwegian who saw Leeds United’s 2004 collapse from the inside, summed it up nicely: “The crowd goes against you because they’re used to higher standards.”
In other words, a siege mentality is harder to build because the natives are starting from a point of anger. That’s where Tottenham Hotspur are right now. The crowd tried their best yesterday, massing in numbers outside the ground as Spurs’ squad drove in for a critical home match against Nottingham Forest, but to no avail. A 3-0 defeat was utterly soul-destroying.
By full-time, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was — to pinch Danny Taylor’s phrase — the Boo Bowl, and I just don’t see where their next win is coming from. A family bereavement meant Igor Tudor missed the post-match press conference, and Spurs will be mindful of handling him with due care. But one 90th-minute equaliser from Richarlison at Anfield is the sum of Tudor’s impact, and it’s hard to find an argument for Tottenham allowing the partnership to ride.
Down at Chelsea, they’re also starting to ask if Liam Rosenior’s stint as head coach has legs. His side took a tanking from Everton on Saturday and with seven Premier League games to go, they’re staring down the barrel of abject failure. In the harsh light of day, the stress of these jobs will find you.
Late show: Trent dropped for tardiness, Vinicius goal sinks Atleti
Trent Alexander-Arnold hasn’t had a great week. After failing to make the latest England squad, he was dropped by Real Madrid yesterday, having turned up late to training. Just in case anybody thought Madrid head coach Alvaro Arbeloa was letting the tail wag the dog.
Arbeloa, little by little, is getting his feet under the table at the Bernabeu. Madrid are on a streak of five straight wins, and having held their nerve against Manchester City in the Champions League on Tuesday, they had the edge in a feisty derby against Atletico last night.
It wasn’t entirely plain sailing, and Federico Valverde — on a hot streak after yet another cool finish — brought a red card upon himself with a challenge on Alex Baena, a player he’s had run-ins with in the past. Goal of the evening, above, came from Atletico’s Nahuel Molina before Vinicius Junior scored his second to make it 3-2.
But Madrid have found their flow under Arbeloa, and he no longer resembles a glaring stop-gap in the tactical area. Is he merely a temporary caretaker for Madrid? Or might his reign actually be fruitful?
Around TAFC
Five games in, and Major League Soccer has no perfect records left. LAFC and Nashville top their respective conferences, prompting Felipe Cardenas to compare their respective strategies. They’re going about 2026 in very different ways.
Seb Stafford-Bloor weighed in with a top column yesterday: on whether, deep down, we appreciate the extreme talent of top footballers enough. And this is coming from a man who follows Tottenham.
Thomas Tuchel picked enough players in his England squad to field three different line-ups. Brighton’s Danny Welbeck didn’t make it, though. After 13 goals this season and a brace against Liverpool on Saturday, Andy Naylor thinks he should have.
Quiz question: name the six players who have played in more than 12 Premier League campaigns for Manchester United. You’ll find the answers here.
Most clicked in Friday’s TAFC: the return of Adidas’ trefoil logo for the World Cup.
And finally…
Croatia’s top division, SuperSport HNL, yielded my favourite goal of the season on Friday: Istra’s Josip Radosevic scoring (and thereby inflicting a 2-1 defeat on Varazdin) courtesy of the wildest deflection off a divot in the pitch. I never fancied being a goalkeeper, and today’s edition of TAFC explains why.