Bukayo Saka, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, and Andre Onana (Photo by Getty Images, The Athletic, Getty Images)
In his exclusive column for CaughtOffside, former England striker Stan Collymore discusses some of football’s biggest talking points, including Arsenal and Aston Villa’s Champions League exploits, Liverpool tying down Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk to new contracts, criticism of Andre Onana, and more.
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Arsenal can win the Champions League after Real Madrid rout
Arsenal were excellent last night against Real Madrid. The damage was done in the first leg with a very aggressive display, and I think that was the difference the two teams. Arsenal were not intimidated, and for them, that is a big step that shows their growth – not only towards winning the Champions League, but also the Premier League. That progression has been lacking at times under Mikel Arteta.
It was a better good two-legged demolition of Real Madrid, who are a team of individuals. It remains to be seen whether they can do that against PSG, but they should be confident as I think that they would not show as much naivety as Aston Villa did during key moments in their tie. And they should have more quality too with guys like Bukayo Saka.
In my opinion, there is nothing stopping Arsenal from winning the Champions League, as there is very little between the four teams left in the competition. PSG and Barcelona are two teams that also do not have much experience of being at this stage in the competition with these squads, and Inter Milan are a team that many probably did not expect to get this far.
For Arsenal, I think they will need to be even better against PSG than they were against Real Madrid, but can they do it? I think they can.
Criticism of Unai Emery for Rashford substitution is misplaced
The vast majority of Unai Emery’s genius since arriving at Villa has been about making the right decisions at the right times, but I think criticism of his substitutions during the PSG second leg are a bit unfair. The Rashford one killed Villa’s momentum a little bit, but had Ollie Watkins come on and scored, no one would have battled an eyelid.
Villa’s downfall against PSG came in key moments across the two legs. The decision to bring on Axel Disasi in the first game was a naïve one, and that contributed to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s goal to make it 2-1. On top of this, the late goal that PSG scored last week and their early opener at Villa Park on Tuesday were also mistakes that cost them. Had these not happened, they could have won the tie, as the comeback was epic.
Villa will learn from this, and they will do better in Europe going forward – whether that’s in the Champions League again next season, or the Europa League/UEFA Conference League if they don’t finish in the top five places in the Premier League. They have got big league matches coming up against teams in and around them like Newcastle and Man City, and also the FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace. I hope the players end the seasons strongly as they deserve it, but they can also be forgiven if they were to have a wobble on the back of this PSG match.
In the bigger picture, Villa’s owners are very capable of keeping them in contention for the Champions League places. They are very wealthy, and they can take the club to the next level. If Emery and Monchi are crucial are clever with their recruitment considering the threat of FFP, they can keep progressing. And they will need to be smart as they will be many clubs in the race in the coming seasons, considering that Man United and Tottenham should bounce back.
Keeping Salah and van Dijk is the best outcome for Liverpool
It is excellent for Liverpool to retain the services of Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk. For me, it does not matter how much money they have been offered given their ages, because the money that it would cost to replace them would surely be so much more. Both of them are more than capable of keeping their levels for the next 2-3 years, even if they were to regress slightly in terms of physical fitness.
In van Dijk’s case, he is very capable of maintaining his natural ability to read a match even if he slows down – he just has that thing that so many other defenders do not. And with Salah, I don’t see him losing much of that critical pace two or three years down the line. The only thing that both must be wary of is being overplayed, which would bring on injuries – but to manage this, I would not be surprised to see them retire from international football in the not-too-distant future. There could be a conversation about that after the 2026 World Cup.
If you had told me last summer that Liverpool would keep Salah and van Dijk but lose Trent Alexander-Arnold, I’d have been doing cartwheels – and I am sure that supporters will feel the same. The latter is an excellent player, but he is not as crucial to Arne Slot’s side as the other two. Conor Bradley is more than capable of stepping up, and in terms of passing output, there is already the likes of Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister. But Liverpool are not a long passing side anyway.
Man United could be criticised as a collective – not just Onana
It has been a difficult period of Andre Onana, but putting it into context, it is not just him that has been the worst in Man United’s history as Nemanja Matic put it last week. From when I started watching football back in 1977 to the start of the Alex Ferguson era, Man United were very average. The primary objective of the teams back then was to stop Liverpool winning titles, not winning them themselves.
For me, this Man United team is the worst in two generations. They bought Rasmus Hojlund on the basis of him being young and Scandivanian like Erling Haaland, so they wanted him to play to that level despite the fact that he had barely played for Atalanta and Denmark. That was a panic buy, and they are paying for it now. Mason Mount – where has he been? He’s been injured most of the time, but when he has played, he has looked woefully off the pace. Can he be argued as one of Man United’s worst ever signing? Yes, absolutely.
You could go through the entire first team squad and question whether these players are some of the worst signings in Man United history, but only Onana seems to attract criticism. Maybe it’s because he plays as the goalkeeper, which is the most important position on the pitch, or maybe it’s because he is seen as attracting scrutiny with some of his antics. But he’s absolutely right to ask the question about why it is only him that is being criticised because this is definitely the worst Man United team that I have ever seen in terms of mentality, desire, leadership, bottle and so many other characteristics.
No one is saying that Onana shouldn’t be criticised – he should be because he has been poor. But he should only be equally criticised compared to the rest of his Man United teammates. And at least he is committed to playing every week, which cannot be said for players like the lesser-spotted Mount. Where’s his criticism?
Missing out of the UCL would not be a failure for Forest
I never thought that this season run-in was going to be easy for Nottingham Forest, even if so many other people have looked at their fixtures and thought that they would pick up victories here and there. There is a small group of online supporters that every club has, and they simply do not understand football. And by that, they don’t understand how difficult the run-in can be – and it’s not just them, as I seem to be one of the only pundits that values this.
A Premier League run-in, which I consider to be the last seven or eight matches, is one of the most difficult set of football fixtures – it’s basically like a Grand National inside another Grand National. It’s much tougher than other leagues like Serie A or La Liga, as even the teams that are not already relegated or not competing for anything still have things on the line – it could be pride, a new contract or even a summer move if you are someone like Liam Delap at Ipswich.
I experienced this situation many times when I was a player, and the message when the run-in started was always that you were playing for something. It’s the same whether you are at the top or the bottom of the table, and that is unique to English football. And when you are involved in title races or battles for the top 4/5, your mind starts to play tricks on you with thinking about the possible outcomes.
And with regards to Forest, it is one of the achievements of the season for them to be fourth in the Premier League at this stage. No one, not even the most optimistic Forest supporter, would have predicted that they would be where they are now, and they should be celebrated for that, regardless of how the remaining weeks ago.
Even if they were to not qualify for the Champions League, it would not be a failure or a “bottlejob”. If any Forest fan thinks that, you need to give your head a wobble. Football does not work like that, clubs cannot rest on their laurels and think that they should finish where they are just because they are there now. Ultimately, wherever your team ends up at the end of the season is where they deserve to end up.
