A week that is likely to go down in football history, for all the wrong reasons, as everything continues to go wrong for one of the game's historic managers. Fifa's awarding of the 2030 and 2034 World Cups to Morocco-Portugal-Spain and Saudi Arabia, respectively, was controversial enough but worse was the manner of it. Gianni Infantino standing in front of a display of screens asking people that their applause be seen should be an image that goes down in infamy alongside Sepp Blatter's shock at reading Qatar's name back in 2010. One of the issues with football is that the news cycle moves fast, though, so everything moves on. Mere hours later, then. Pep Guardiola's dismal run at Manchester City continued with a 2-0 defeat to Juventus. That result sets up a huge weekend with the Manchester derby, as Manchester United encounter issues of their own. The Fifa result meanwhile sets up the next decade of football's political economy. |
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| Written by Miguel Delaney |
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Amid all of the noise around Fifa this week, one little story stood out. When Infantino was running for election to succeed Sepp Blatter back in 2016, one of his supporters got into a discussion about the two during the lobbying. This was of course in the context of Blatter having to resign as president after the upheaval of 2015 following the US state investigations. "Of course he's better than Blatter," this senior figure pleaded. "He's a lawyer!" For more on this entire situation, I've gone into the path that led to Wednesday's controversial decisions and a process that looked engineered, the absurdity of the day in Zurich itself, and the big question of why football persists with this preposterous presidential structure, where figures like Infantino have so much power. |
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Can Palmer bring Chelsea full circle? |
With all the focus on Liverpool's form, Manchester City's crisis and Arsenal's angst, there hasn't been much talk of Chelsea's chances of the title. Well, the main discussion has been whether they should be even considered in such debates. A lot of people in the Premier League aren't ruling out, and that is largely down to one player: Cole Palmer. This isn't to do down Enzo Maresca, who has clearly managed a superb job there, but Palmer is the special talent that brings everything to an extra level. It might bring things full circle, too. Football has become so systemised that it's rare for individuals to have outward effect on any trophy wins. You arguably have to go back to 2016-17 and the last Chelsea win for that, with the influence of Diego Costa's goals. We discuss the issue here. |
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A Manchester derby unlike any for a long time |
One positive for Manchester United this week was that the trouble at City, and Fifa, temporarily took the focus of their own issues with the departure of Dan Ashworth. It does frame this weekend's meeting in an unexpected way. With United 13th and City fourth, albeit with one win and seven defeats in 10, it's hard to think of a Manchester derby where both sides have been at such a low ebb. There's been little like it in the Premier League era, and you really have to go back to the old First Division. It is also why Ruben Amorim, parachuted into this, is likely to go back to basics. His task is in some ways simpler than Pep Guardiola's. The City manager is trying to work out how to make his system work again. Amorim hasn't yet got his system in place, so his freer to do what is required, which is likely to be a structured countering system similar to what was seen at Arsenal. While Mikel Arteta's side won 2-0 on set-pieces, City aren't on that kind of form. |
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A decisive week for Postecoglou... and Levy |
An otherwise forgiving fixture at Southampton has assumed huge importance for Tottenham Hotspur. A few weeks ago, fans might have laughed about it being the sort of game they'd probably lose, but that was in the context of winning the big games they actually had been expected to lose. The latter has stopped, as seen with that defeat to Chelsea. Speculation is now swirling around Ange Postecoglou. Spurs are known to have been looking at Marco Silva, who has another chance to burnish his credentials by frustrating Liverpool with Fulham this weekend. Daniel Levy, however, is also aware of wider fan sentiment. There are issues with Postecoglou's coaching but supporters generally want to try something different and persist. The squad is young, with a low wage bill relative to putative rivals and Spurs' revenue. They could still badly do with a win this weekend. |
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A further illustration of the issues with football governance and this week's World Cup decision was its very staging, and attitude to media. In previous years, many journalists would have gone to Zurich to report, but there was little point because it was online so even some Fifa Council members didn't attend. Worse, there was no press conference afterwards to even discuss the decision. That has meant Infantino has as yet never been properly questioned about this process. | |
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| Arsenal's Bukayo Saka continued to go to another level, greatly steadying his team's form with two goals and an assist in the 3-0 Champions League win over Monaco. This is a player who should be very excited going into 2025. |
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I have a feeling for Manchester United to beat City this weekend. In normal circumstances, the champions would just unravel a team as formative as Ruben Amorim's but these aren't normal circumstances. Amorim knows how to set up against Guardiola and knows how to structure a defence. |
Every week I'll make one prediction or talking point for the week. Feel free to email in with thoughts. |
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In the Premier League era, only five managers have won their first Manchester derby in the competition. Name them. |
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