76 2GM Thursday November 11 2021 | the timesSportFootball
Antonio Conte’s sweeping changes at
Tottenham Hotspur have not been
limited to training and video analysis —
the canteen has been on his hit list too,
with ketchup and mayonnaise removed
from the menu.
Conte, who replaced Nuno Espírito
Santo as head coach of Spurs last week,
believes many of his players are below
the necessary standards of fitness and
that some are even overweight. The
Italian made his mark immediately on
training sessions by increasing the in-
tensity but he has also addressed nutri-
tion, with fruit promoted in place of
lunches cooked with oils and butter.
Conte did the same after being
appointed as Chelsea’s manager in 2016,
banning his players from consuming
pizza, fizzy drinks, ketchup and brown
sauce. Salt and pepper remained but
vinegar was replaced by balsamic
vinegar and olive oil.Tom Roddyteam, is their brightest long-term
prospect. Ryan Kent, the former
Liverpool winger, attracted an offer
from Leeds United last season.
More than anything, Gerrard is a
football man: straight, passionate and
hungry for success. In 2018, at the end
of his first Rangers press conference,
he was asked if there was a message
for supporters. “Let’s go,” was the
answer, quickly adopted as a rallying
cry by the club and their fanbase. If
he and Villa come to an agreement,
there will be no holding back.I
f indeed Steven Gerrard accepts
an offer to take charge of Aston
Villa, it will be to further his
development as a manager. After
3½ years with Rangers, he needs
a better standard of football, with new
tactical challenges, in a less repetitive
environment.
That’s what makes it tough to say
with any certainty how ready he is for
the job. Ending Celtic’s decade-long
dominance of Scottish football should
not be underestimated, but it has
required a different skill set from that
needed in the lower reaches of the
Premier League, even at a club of
Villa’s stature.
Gerrard, an icon for whom the
pressures of a big club in a big city
were already a way of life, was perfect
for Rangers. While his predecessors
complained about the unreasonable
expectation of media and fans, the
suffocating atmosphere of Glasgow
and the ludicrous reaction to even a
dropped point, the former Liverpool
and England captain embraced the
challenge.
Those rare leadership qualities and
the standards he demands will serve
him well wherever he goes, but
Gerrard will need more than that in
the Premier League. He will not be
spending nine weeks out of ten trying
to solve the same puzzle, namely how
to unlock a parked bus. And he will
not be afforded the time he was given
to turn Rangers around.
That said, Gerrard has plenty about
him. He is much more than a novice
manager trading on his reputation asbetter than me at doing it,” Gerrard
has said. “It would take me 15-20
years to become as good as Michael
Beale as an on-pitch coach, delivering
sessions on a daily basis, so I let Mick
be Mick because he’s the expert.”
It is unthinkable that Gerrard
would move to Villa without that
entourage. He may also be inclined to
take one or two of Rangers’ best
players, although none would make
the transition easily. Nathan
Patterson, a 20-year-old full back who
has just broken into the ScotlandHungry, frank, able
to rally a big club –
and ideal for Villa
a player. The title he secured in his
third season wasn’t simply the result
of waving a chequebook and relying
on his signings to do the business. It
was a campaign in which Rangers got
better at what their manager was
asking them to do.
His work has been a process, a
package, a project, on and off the
pitch. Just as he upgraded Rangers’
infrastructure, from facilities at the
training ground to the players’ lounge
at Ibrox, so has he developed an
identity for his team, a clear and
sustainable playing style in which
every member of the side understands
his job.
It is based on the Liverpool
template, so firmly entrenched that it
is hard to imagine it being any
different with Villa. Almost invariably
Gerrard has stood by some version ofa 4-3-3, with inverted wingers,
midfielders who drop in to cover for
marauding full backs and an attempt
to “own the pitch” by overloading
opponents.
While that may be construed as
easy in the Scottish Premiership,
some of Rangers’ best work under
Gerrard has been in the Europa
League, in which they have twice
reached the round of 16. Nor do his
aggressive tactics come at the expense
of defensive discipline. In their
unbeaten title-winning campaign,
they conceded only 13 goals in 38
games. There were 26 clean sheets.
Gerrard the manager is big on
honesty. With the media, his post-
match evaluation of matches has
been measured and objective. Andplayers seem to appreciate a man-
management style that could be best
described as “tough love”.
His patience with the indisciplined
Colombia striker Alfredo Morelos has
been rewarded. And he has made
every effort to protect and support
others, not least Glen Kamara when
the midfielder was the victim of racist
abuse by a Slavia Prague player.
The passion for which he was
renowned as a player sometimes got
the better of Gerrard’s early work as a
manager. In his second season he
famously went overboard with a
match-winning celebration at Celtic
Park, only to see his team’s title
challenge later collapse. Three days
after a momentous victory over SC
Braga in Portugal he was so
depressed by a loss to Hearts that he
cast doubt on his future at the club.
These days he is more consistent
and more in control of his emotions.
Tactically he has become more
sophisticated, although he would be
the first to admit that his backroom
team have been vital in that regard.
Like Gerrard, Gary McAllister,
Michael Beale, Jordan Milsom and
Tom Culshaw all have a background
at Liverpool.
McAllister, Rangers’ assistant
manager, was a team-mate of
Gerrard’s at Anfield. Beale, the Ibrox
club’s first-team coach, managed
Liverpool’s under-23 team before
enjoying a spell as assistant manager
of São Paulo. Tom Culshaw, Gerrard’s
assistant when he was in charge of
Liverpool’s under-18s, is Rangers’
technical coach, credited with
improving their work at set pieces.
Milsom, a Liverpool fitness coach, is
head of performance.
In his first managerial post Gerrard
has not been ashamed to delegate,
especially when it comes to Beale,
who is often described as the brains of
the operation. “I’ll never try to do
someone else’s job when they areSteven Gerrard’s Ibrox
evolution from novice
to sophisticate makes
him credible candidate,
writes Paul Forsyth
McAllister, a former
team-mate, is now
Gerrard’s assistant65
Steven Gerrard’s win
percentage as Rangers
manager since taking
charge in 2018“I am passionate about football,” he
said. “Having been to the London Sta-
dium, I know it is an incredible time to
become part of the West Ham family. I
feel privileged to have the opportunity
to help everyone here build on the
proud traditions of this great club.”
West Ham have reached the knock-
out stage of the Europa League, a com-
petition Sparta Prague are also in.
It is believed Kretinsky could one day
take a majority stake that would lead to
the owners Sullivan and Gold sharing
profits of more than £300 million.
6 West Ham Under-21 have been
thrown out of the Papa John’s Trophy
for fielding an ineligible player against
Gillingham. Ajibola Alese was not
allowed to play after receiving two
yellow cards in the previous group
fixtures. Colchester United will replace
West Ham in the last 32.Conte bans ketchup at Spurs
Tottenham will hope it has the same
effect on their team, as Chelsea went on
to win the Premier League title in Con-
te’s first season at Stamford Bridge.
However, the obsession with condi-
ments has run throughout football over
the years with varying results.
Paolo Di Canio banned ketchup and
mayonnaise, as well as ice and Coca-
Cola, at Sunderland in 2013. He was
sacked six months later.
Roy Hodgson opted to return ketchup
and brown sauce to the England
canteen after they had been ditched by
his predecessor, Fabio Capello. Arsène
Wenger banned his Arsenal players
from eating Mars bars while Giovanni
Trapattoni told the Ireland squad that
mushrooms were not allowed.
Conte’s first two matches in charge at
Tottenham were a 3-2 victory over
Vitesse Arnhem on Thursday and Sun-
day’s goalless draw away to Everton.
Tottenham host Leeds United on their
return to action on November 21.Sparta Prague owner, 46,
invests £160m in West Ham
The Czech businessman Daniel Kretin-
sky has completed his purchase of a 27
per cent stake in West Ham United.
According to the Financial Times
Kretinsky, 46, is paying about
£160 million for the stake which values
the club at about £600 million, or
£700 million including debt.
Kretinsky, who owns the Czech
top-flight side Sparta Prague, and his
colleague, Pavel Horsky, have been
appointed to the board at the London
Stadium alongside joint-chairmen
David Sullivan and David Gold and
vice-chairwoman Karren Brady.
Kretinsky — nicknamed the Czech
Sphinx because of his inscrutable style
— made his fortune in the energy sec-
tor but has recently taken large stakes
in Sainsbury’s and Royal Mail. His for-
tune is valued at £2.9 billion by Forbes,
the business magazine.Arsenal live up to star
billing with dominant win
Having been described as “Barcelona-
lite” by the HB Koge manager Soren
Randa-Boldt before their Champions
League game, Arsenal responded with
a 5-1 win against the Danish side
(Tomas Hill Lopez-Menchero writes).
Nikita Parris’s 16th-minute penalty
was saved by the impressive Koge
goalkeeper Kaylan Marckese, before
Steph Catley opened the scoring with
a free kick in the 27th minute that
nestled into the top corner, via the
crossbar, for her first Arsenal goal.
Parris found redemption with a
left-footed shot from close range in
the 62nd minute, before Caitlin Foord
headed Arsenal’s third in the 69th
minute after Jordan Nobbs’s effort
came off the bar. Maddie Pokorny
slotted Koge’s first Champions League
group-stage goal in the 71st minute to
briefly give the hosts hope, but goals
from the academy product Anna
Patten and Nobbs put the shine on
another big victory for Jonas
Eidevall’s side.