4 **^ Sunday 11 August 2019 The Sunday TelegraphSport Football
It says plenty about Arsenal’s plans for
the new season that their biggest
investment of the summer was in the
one area of the field that, on paper at
least, they did not need to strengthen.
Nicolas Pepe, all £72 million of him,
strolled through the doors at the
Emirates, walked past Arsenal’s row of
injured defenders, beyond their
collection of inconsistent midfielders
and took up his place alongside the
elite pairing of Pierre-Emerick
Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette
in attack.
The £100 million strike force of
Aubameyang and Lacazette was the
single most encouraging aspect of
Unai Emery’s first season in north Lon-
don. It was the club’s great strength,
the key to their run to the Europa
League final and the reason they were
even able to contemplate a top-four
finish. Now, with Pepe on board, they
are even stronger going forward and
even more formidable opponents for
Premier League defences.
It is not unreasonable to question
the logic of spending so much cash on
another forward when the defence is
so visibly lagging behind.
Plenty of Arsenal fans have done
just that. Rather than investing a
combined £33 million on David Luiz
and Kieran Tierney, should Arsenal’s
executives not have broken the
bank for one commanding centre-half
who could reverse their defensive
fortunes?
Well, yes and no. Arsenal areBy Luke Edwards
They have lost a world-class manager
and replaced him with one from the
Championship. They can no longer call
upon the strikers who scored two
thirds of their goals last season. But,
even if there is a boycott planned for
today’s opening match against Arsenal,
are Newcastle United really a club in
crisis?
The long-feared departure of Rafael
Benitez – after contract talks broke
down over the Spaniard’s wage de-
mands and how much control he would
have over recruitment – when he re-
ceived a £12 million-a-year offer from
China, has whipped up another storm
on Tyneside.
Top goalscorer Ayoze Perez went to
Leicester City for £30 million and last
season’s player of the year, Salomon
Rondon, followed Benitez to Chinese
Super League side Dalian Yifang.
As pre-season began, Newcastle had
no manager, no signings and precious
little hope that something positive
could emerge from the chaos.
Enter Steve Bruce, ignoring the
warnings of friends who urged him not
to accept his hometown team’s SOS
call. Bruce disagreed and has, despite
an initially hostile reaction to his ar-
rival from Sheffield Wednesday, re-
stored a semblance of calm.
Tellingly, it is the players who have
responded best to Bruce’s appoint-
ment. On the club’s pre-season tour of
China, winger Matt Ritchie angrily
snapped at a reporter who suggested
Newcastle’s new manager was not
good enough to replace Benitez.
Captain Jamaal Lascelles also enthu-
siastically welcomed Bruce’s appoint-
ment, as did midfielders Jonjo ShelveyMaguire will
have a massive
impact on us,
says Solskjaer
By Adam Lanigan
Manchester United had to break a
world record to get him, but Ole Gun-
nar Solskjaer is convinced that Harry
Maguire will be the foundation stone
on which they can build a brighter
future.
Maguire became the world’s most
expensive defender when United met
Leicester City’s valuation of £80 mil-
lion, surpassing the £75 million Liver-
pool paid for Virgil van Dijk.
The impact of the Dutchman has
been clear to see with his performances
earning him the PFA Player of the Sea-
son award. He was a rock at the back as
Liverpool won the Champions League.
Solskjaer is reluctant to compare his
new man with Van Dijk, but United
desperately hope Maguire can add
much-needed solidity to their defence.
Despite already having six central
defenders on the books, a new one was
top priority after United shipped 54
league goals last season, their worst fig-
ure for 40 years. Maguire was the one
Solskjaer singled out and now, as he
prepares for his United debut in today’s
game at home to Chelsea, the England
international’s presence has already
been noted in and around Carrington.
“Harry’s going to be great for this
club,” enthuses Solskjaer. “He was
always my No 1 target. I more or less
made my mind up when we played
Leicester that if it was possible to get
him, we should at least try. He is soF
rank Lampard’s ears prick
up when he is told about
Jamie Carragher’s column
in yesterday’s Daily
Telegraph. “Frank Lampard
is the right man in the right
place at Chelsea,” Carragher wrote.
“The immediate challenge he faces is
proving it is also the right time.”
The Chelsea head coach would have
read the article anyway even if it had
not been pointed out to him. He is- even before his recent job as a
television pundit – a voracious
consumer of the media and admits he
has used it as a “motivation” through-
out his career.
As he says that, the mind goes back
to his withering reaction to Joey
Barton’s views on England’s failure at
the 2006 World Cup when he criti-
cised players, Lampard included, for
bringing out autobiographies after the
tournament. “I’ll say one thing,”
Lampard said then. “I read that Joey
said he was in Dubai running at six in
the morning and that he was wonder-
ing if me and Stevie G [Gerrard] were
doing the same. I was thinking, ‘I was
doing that when I was 11 years old’.”
Of course Carragher’s comments
are far more constructive and rea-
soned than Barton’s and Lampard
knows that. For a start Carragher,
Lampard’s room-mate with England
Under-21s, talks glowingly about the
qualities Lampard has to be a success-
ful manager – he is simply questioning
whether he will get the time to do his
“dream job” given Chelsea’s previous
approach and the demands of
suffering a year-long Fifa
transfer ban.
“I understand the thinking,”
Lampard says with, also, just a
season as a manager with
Championship club Derby
County to count upon as his
experience before today’s
Premier League kick-off
away to Manchester United.
“I understand Jamie
Carragher. Anyone can
analyse a job like this – a
year in management.
Anyone can say,
‘There’s a ban, it’s
going to be
difficult’. Anyone
can throw those sides
of the argument. I respect that.
“The other side is I am confi-
dent in myself, I’m confident I can
do that job. I see opportunities
where the ban is what it is and we
have some really good young
players and a really good squad
with a mixed bag of experience
and players in the prime of their
careers. So I want to prove I can
do this job as well as possible.”
Carragher’s is not the only
opinion Lampard has
considered. He has,
he admits, read all the predictions, the
analysis and listened to the airwaves
as Chelsea’s prospects have been
discussed at length. The 41-year-old
knows no one is tipping them to win
the league or even go close. Many
believe that after finishing third and
winning the Europa League under
Maurizio Sarri, they may slip out of the
Champions League places and cling to
a top-six spot.
“I don’t think you can walk around
with your eyes closed,” Lampard says.
“You should be aware of these things.
They make me determined to do the
job as well as I can. And I don’t mind it.
“When I look back on my career,
the early days, the West Ham days,
when I came to Chelsea, and some of
my England career was difficult at
times. That’s not just me. I think that’s
part of a career in football. At the top,
where you want to be, it is tough and
you have to prove people wrong.
“Even more in the modern day, with
social media where everyone has
really strong opinions. It’s normal you
will have to break down barriers.
“The only way I ever knew was to
get my head down and work ... I’m
happy with the career I had – 21 years
playing – because I felt I gave every-
thing. I could not have done more. I’ll
try to do the same as a manager.”
It followed on from Lampard earlier
laying out the tenets that underpin his
approach to management. Unsurpris-
ingly, the first was fitness, then “to
train as we play”, energy, possession of
the ball and being aggressive when his
team do not have it.
To do that Lampard needs youth
and togetherness – not something
Chelsea have been associated with in
recent years but, with the ban, the
opportune moment has arrived for the
likes of Mason Mount, Tammy
Abraham, Fikayo Tomori, Reece James
and Christian Pulisic, who may have
cost £58 million but is just 20.
James, like Ruben Loftus-Cheek
and Callum Hudson-Odoi, will miss
the start of the campaign through
injuries sustained late last season.
Lampard gave youth a chance
during his time at Derby – not least
with the on-loan Mount and Tomori- but his most encouraging example
was the bold use of a
raw talent such as
teenage full-back
Jayden Bogle.
Quickly moving
out David Luiz meant
Chelsea lost another
experienced player after
the sale of Eden Hazard,
but it was a show of
strength by Lampard, who
is not afraid to be tough
even if his natural style is
to put his arm around the
shoulder of the players he
coaches. “I love them as lads,”
he says of the young players
before adding: “But I’m
expecting them to deliver.”
It is something the
youngest manager in the Pre-
mier League can relate to
more than any other,
especially as he is using
the doubt over whether
he will be given the
chance to succeed
as a motivation.
Yet again.
unquestionably top-heavy, but the
thinking within the club is that an
attacker of Pepe’s pace and counter-
attacking ability will do as much to
relieve the pressure on the defence as
any change of personnel at the back.
Like Aubameyang, Pepe is
exceptionally quick. He can also retain
possession with his dribbling, creating
more openings and committing more
defenders.
The prospect of Lacazette (19 goals
last season) dropping between
Aubameyang (31 goals last season) and
Pepe (23 goals for Lille last season) is a
mouthwatering one, although Arsenal
fans may have to wait until next
weekend to see them all in action
together from the start.Pepe is still adapting to his new
environment and is unlikely to start
against Newcastle United today, while
Lacazette has a minor ankle problem
which will be tested at the last
moment.
“I wanted to sign a player who can
push us and give us more competitive
capacity in the attacking third,” said
Emery of Pepe.
“With goals, with the ability to playdecisive passes, and also to work with
hunger. I think Pepe is coming here
with a big ambition to improve, to
grow up with us as a player. Really,
I think we can be stronger with him.”
These days it seems that the mark of
a great strike force, as much as the
goals, is the acronym. Liverpool had
their own version of the SAS (Suarez
and Sturridge), Barcelona had the MSN
(Messi, Suarez, Neymar) and Real
Madrid had the BBC (Bale, Benzema
and Cristiano Ronaldo). If Pepe,
Aubameyang and Lacazette combine
successfully, we might have PAL.
Throw Mesut Ozil into the mix, once
he returns to the team following the
unprecedented security threats that
have cast such a shadow over this trip
to Newcastle, and Arsenal boast an
attack good enough to trouble any side
in Europe. Pepe’s arrival certainly
provides more width and versatility
for a manager who is determined to
build a team who can switch between
a variety of systems.
“The club has done a good job
bringing in Pepe,” said left-back Nacho
Monreal last week. “He is going to help
us a lot. He is going to be very
important for us.”
Monreal is among the players who
must now provide a platform that
allows the front three to thrive. If the
defence, bolstered by Luiz and
Tierney, can lay the foundations, then
the expectation will be that Pepe,
Aubameyang and Lacazette can do the
rest.
“We are so lucky to have these
players because we are talking about
some of the best players in this
moment,” said Monreal. “We need to
enjoy having them, and we need to
play for them because they make the
difference.”ARSENAL FC VIA GETTY IMAGESEyebrows raised at £72m
spent on striker given lack
of dominant centre-backin team, writes Sam Dean
Work ethic: Frank Lampard (left) expects youngsters such as Mason Mount (above) to match his exacting standards this seasonNewcastle’s players
rally around Bruce
and Isaac Hayden. That quartet formed
the core of the team who had won pro-
motion to the Premier League under
Benitez in 2017 and have finished 10th
and 13th in the top flight. All four had
been linked with moves away, but are
happy to stay under Bruce.
Benitez’s coaching and tactical ex-
pertise will be difficult to replicate, but
Bruce has inherited a squad that was
never as bad as his predecessor had ar-
gued.
He has also been able to add to it,
with £40 million spent on the Brazilian
striker Joelinton, and there is an emo-
tional homecoming for Andy Carroll. If
those signings are a success, Newcastle
will be more dangerous than peoplethink. Bruce has replaced the ineffec-
tual Kenedy, on loan from Chelsea,
with exciting French prospect Allan
Saint-Maximin.
Two new full-backs – Holland inter-
national Jetro Willems and Sweden in-
ternational Emil Krafth – strengthen
another problem area. The club have
also kept hold of promising midfielder
Sean Longstaff, whose brother, Matty,
has made a big impression in pre-sea-
son.
The last time Bruce managed in the
North-East he finished 10th and 13th in
the Premier League with Sunderland,
the same record as Benitez was lauded
for at Newcastle. Neither the new man-
ager nor the team is as bad as people
Kick-off 2pm TV Sky Sports seem to believe.Newcastle United
ArsenalGame zone
Great expectations: Arsenal forward Nicolas Pepe scored 23 goals for Lille last seasonKick-off 4.30pm TV Sky SportsManchester United
ChelseaGame zone
composed on the ball and he gives the
team another dimension. Harry is a
leader, an established international, a
goal threat and a very, very good
defender.
“I don’t want to compare us to Liver-
pool or Harry to van Dijk, but I know
Harry is going to have a massive impact
on us, yes.”
While Maguire is tried and tested,
United’s other two signings this sum-
mer, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Daniel
James, are both only 21 and fall into the
category of promising.
It still took the best part of £65 mil-
lion to bring them to Old Trafford, but
they will inject youth into the squad.
Solskjaer has also given plenty of
opportunities in pre-season to home-
grown products: 17-year-old Mason
Greenwood, 18-year-old pair James
Garner and Angel Gomes, and Tahith
Chong, 19. He wants to establish a path-
way from the club’s academy into the
first team, which hints at a change in
strategy after a number of years of hav-
ing their fingers burnt with big-money
arrivals failing to deliver.
“You can call it a gamble. I am just
staying true to what I believe in,” he
states. “I believe in this way of manag-
ing a football club.
“It is not just about me getting re-
sults now to get my reputation.
“It is about the club going forward in
the right direction. If we don’t make
these decisions now, they will have to
be done in 12 months or 18 months or
24 months because at some point these
kids will have to be a part of Man
United. That has always been the case.”Up for the challenge:
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Jason Burt
CHIEF FOOTBALL
CORRESPONDENTChelsea coach using dire
predictions as motivationand demanding hard work
from the club’s youngstersLampard determined to prove critics
wrong and unleash next generation
Top-heavy Arsenal are hoping Pepe’s pace will
prove that attack is the best form of defence
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