AGE IS NOT JUST A NUMBER
Harry Redknapp is the oldest manager in all four divisions of English football. Worryingly for his Queens Park Rangers side, he could probably reminisce about the distant good old days with most of his defensive backline.
Richard Dunne turns 35 next month and Rio Ferdinand will be 36 in November. They are a little long in the tooth to be learning new tricks.
But the real worry is they appeared to be struggling to get to grips with old tricks when they were overrun by Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
The new season seems to be a 1990s tactics retrospective for some clubs. Louis van Gaal is trying to implement the 3-5-2 formation of his managerial youth in his new role at Manchester United.
Redknapp, meanwhile, has employed Glenn Hoddle as a coach to help him do the same. Results have been mixed at best so far.
ARE ARSENAL SOFT OR NOT
You can usually set your seasonal clocks by Arsenal. If they are winning, then it is probably mild late summer, turning autumnal.
If they are losing, then there has been a cold snap, spring is around the corner and the trophies are not far away from being handed out.
Lily-livered, fair-weather dandies with no stomach for the fight, right?
Maybe that theory is a myth - or at least out of date. Last season they won their first trophy in aeons after coming from behind in both their FA Cup semi-final, against Wigan Athletic, and the final, against Hull City.
On Saturday, they did the same at Everton to save a point which may only have a minimal effect on the league table, but a potentially massive one on morale.
Whether they can do the same when there is frost on the ground and the opposition are from the very top rank, though, remains to be seen.
KEEPING FRIENDS CLOSE
When Tony Pulis decided the pundit’s chair at beIN Sports’s studios in Doha was more appealing than another season managing Crystal Palace, Keith Millen was there to take up the slack.
All of which apparently means Palace are in deep trouble. The subsequent farce over the non-appointments of Tim Sherwood, Malky Mackay and Hoddle means Millen may now land the reins by default.
Not all clubs have a ready caretaker if the worst happens. It does not make sense, after all, for a head coach to recruit a No 2 who could well do the job better than he can, given the chance.
However, two managers’ friends could be merely a bad run of results away from becoming their closest enemies.
Hoddle’s best route back into mainstream management could well be at Loftus Road if Redknapp’s woes extend for much longer.
Over at Aston Villa, meanwhile, Roy Keane looks pretty cosy on the bench next to Paul Lambert.
GEMS NEED NOT COST THE EARTH
World Cup years always inflate transfer fees. All the top clubs want a piece of the most visible stars from the sport’s biggest stage.
Manchester United, for example, are just about to sign off on a British record fee for a player who is unwanted by his current team and was not especially flash at the World Cup, either.
Who knows what Will Buckley was up to this summer. The former Brighton winger cost Sunderland approximately 30 times less than what is about to be lavished on Angel Di Maria by United.
He was recruited from a lower division, rather than abroad, and Gus Poyet, the Sunderland manager, reckons he is going to prove a bargain. "He is going to do plenty of things. Now, don't expect it every week – £2.5 million [Dh15.2m]," Poyet was quoted as saying of Buckley after his fine display against United on Sunday.
“People pay £30m and £40m and £50m – we paid £2.5m, so let’s be patient.”
pradley@thenational.ae
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