Ten Hag will ‘miss the support’ of Murtough

O’Neil of Wolves has just embarked on a long speech about refereeing standards, VAR and the like. I’ll see if I can type up the “best” bits.

If anyone else has anything to say football-wise, feel free to send your thoughts on email.

The Wolves manager, Gary O’Neil, is having a chat now.

With regards to his FA charge for criticising the officials after last week’s loss to West Ham, he says it’s best if he doesn’t comment until the process is complete. Very sensible too.

“Never mind all your Premier League-centric stuff, there is stuff going on elsewhere this weekend, and nowhere more so than the world’s bitchingest League, THE CHAMPIONSHIP !!!!!!” emails Jeremy Boyce.

It’s nice to see the smoke coming off my keyboard is not in vain. Happy to be of service as always.

“It’s tighter than a duck’s whatnot in the top three,” continues Jeremy. “All of whom have shown signs of pressure the last week or so, whereas Saints seem to have come through their sticky patch and are back on track. There are games in hand, there are points in the bag. Leeds fan spoiler alert : Sir Don was always a “points in the bag” man, putting the pressure on the others to keep up. He had a point, end of season fatigue + lots of pressure isn’t always the best recipe for success. So with Leicester in action tonight, and all the other top 4 tomorrow, there will be shredded nerves, bitten fingernails and scuffed chances a-go-go. Hooray for the Not-The-Premier-League!”

Semi-automated offsides. Is the Spurs boss Ange Postecogou for it? “Yeah. I don’t know a lot about it. But if they make decisions quicker and clearer – yeah, all for it.”

Tottenham face Newcastle tomorrow at St James’ Park at 12.30pm. A question quickly arrives about points deductions, money, and profitability and sustainability rules.

“We’re going down this rabbit hole again are we? We did this last week …

“I said last week there’s got to be some regulation around a safety net for clubs, to make sure they don’t overspend for their own good. There’s got to be a competitive balance within that … but not at the expense of the quality we are trying to produce in the best league in the world … from my perspective I’ll leave that to the guys who know better.”

Pierre-Emile Højbjerg impressed off the bench in the win over Forest last Sunday and was congratulated by the manager on the pitch at full-time: “Yeah he was good. I try to get to all the players [after the game]. Some of them hang around longer than others and I sometimes I have to chase them down the tunnel …

“Pierre and Rodri [Bentancur] coming on really helped us last week … it needed something a little bit different than what we had. “Biss” and Pape [Yves Bissouma and Pape Sarr] did well enough in the first half and worked really hard.

“I felt where the game was at, and the way Forest were setting up … having Pierre and Rodri in there with his passing range.

“It worked well. Pierre’s been good. He’s not started as many games probably as he’d like. We are in a good place at the moment, where we have a squad where I can make these changes in games, or between games.”

Has Postecoglou watched the game back from last season, when Spurs went 5-0 down early doors and lost 6-1?

“No, I haven’t watched the game back. There’s no reason to, for me. Yeah. It’ll be a tough game. I don’t think the 12.30 kick-off will [make any difference] … we’re leaving today and have had good preparation for it. It’s a tough game.

“They’re obviously going through a tough time themselves in terms of injuries. Probably they’ve been hurt for a more prolonged period. Particularly at home they’re still a very good side.

“The crowd gives them a lot of energy … we’re going to have to match that energy tomorrow and that’s how we like to play our football as well. By bringing our own energy to it, hopefully we can overcome the challenge.”

Arteta looks fresh, relaxed, confident and completely in control.

In his press conference, Guardiola looked like he was losing the will to live, but I suppose there is nothing new there when it comes to his Friday brushes with the fourth estate.

How defining will the next couple of weeks be for Arsenal and Mikel Arteta?

“Percentage wise?” Arteta asks. “Very! For sure. We can be in no competitions [after two weeks] … We can be in the semi-finals of the Champions League or top of the Premier League, or not. Every game is going to define what our future looks like.”

“It’s the only thing possible to look at one game, and one day … that’s the only thing you can control.”

Arteta relishing ‘most beautiful part of the season’

Mikel Arteta is speaking now.

Eidevall: Hayes comments were “very irresponsible”

The Chelsea gaffer Mauricio Pochettino is asked about injuries, and the news that Ben Chilwell is nearing fitness before Monday’s visit of Everton. “It’s not only him we were missing,” Pochettino points out. “But yes, “Chilly” is in partial training today, and we’ll see if he can be on the bench for Monday. It’s good news.”

But there is worse news on Enzo Fernández and and Axel Disasi?

“We’ll see. They are under assessment. They have different type of issues … we don’t believe big issues. We’ll see if they can be available. At the moment they are not training with the group. We don’t know if they can be involved on Monday.”

Has Pochettino experienced a worse season for injuries?

“It’s true it’s a “special” season. We were suffering a lot … I need to stop talking [about injuries]. People are waiting for me to talk … it’s so boring … they know we are going to talk about that.

“We need to accept the reality and be positive … with the young kids we have who came through the academy, we are going to try to win the game Monday … If something happens [with injuries] we have to accept we will train with young guys … they can step up and show their quality … they can be good players and provide for Chelsea.

“When that situation happens another door will be open. It’s good for the kids to have the opportunity to train with us.”

Pochettino is asked about last weekend’s 2-2 draw against Sheffield United, and he says he got the message wrong after the game when speaking to the media.

“I think I need to be more cautious about my words after the game also. I need to adapt a different message … to try to improve this week. We need to be more positive. We need to accept it’s the reality … sometimes I give my feelings.

“We have a really good squad. That is the reality. We need to work hard to support them and to perform better in the next game. I am really happy in the way they were training. I hope we can have a very good game Monday.”

Ten Hag: Manchester United must cut out ‘individual mistakes’

Guardiola defends Haaland after Real Madrid draw

Guardiola: Busy City schedule puts them in “big, big trouble”

Thank you John. Hello everyone. Pep Guardiola is speaking now … quotes to follow shortly.

Right, that’s my morning on the blog completed. The estimable Luke McLaughlin takes the reins from here.

Barney Ronay reminds that the summer’s Euro finals are being played amid the fug of a continental land war.

It is worth noting that Slovakia are not alone in offering a Russia-facing presence at these Euros. Hungary maintains fond relations. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is planning his next meeting with Putin (strongman to strongman: it’s complicated). Intriguingly, it could have been Belarus instead of Romania in Group E had qualifying gone differently, obliging Ukraine to play against a nation that willingly assisted the invasion of its borders. Unite in the heart of Europe! Or something.

Vincent Kompany says his Burnley team don’t actually need a miracle to stay up. They play Brighton tomorrow. “Fine margins”: the phrase of the season?

“I wouldn’t call it a miracle, but it needs wins, it needs points. We’re not necessarily able to look forward to any game and pick and choose, say ‘this game is the one’. Every game is tough for us.

“But every game offers the opportunity. We don’t also look at any game as a game where we can’t win. What we need is that difference (from) what we’ve had this season – if you have a good performance you have to have three points.

“It’s been fine margins so many times. It’s been this type of season where at the beginning I think we found it, talking very early doors, difficult to adapt quickly, but for a while now we’ve been in every game. It’s just the frustration, what it’s been this season, is after a game to feel like we could have done more.

“What I want to add is that – and that was my frustration probably with my over-reaction at times with the officials as well – there have been times where it’s been our own fault, our own mistakes, and sometimes it’s not been our fault, and that’s unfortunate.”

Congratulations, Rodrigo Muniz, Premier League player of the month.

There’s a lot of blame being slung around for this. And it has felt like Rangers have been doing quite well in European football in recent years.

West Ham were another Europa League casualty though that was little surprise at the hands of Europe’s most in-form team.

David Moyes had this to say afterwards:

“We’re still in the tie and we have half a chance in the second leg. We’d like to have played more attacking. The players did a brilliant job with the structure. We got done by two corner-kicks. The second one was really poor from our point of view.

“Let’s try to get one and then see if we can get two. We’ll pick ourselves up for next week and hopefully get the crowd behind us.

“This team we’re playing will be Champions League next year. We have to recognise what we’re playing against. We’ll have to do exceptionally well to get that result.”

This move essentially paywalls the EFL beyond the reach of those who do not wish to pay for Sky. Will there be a highlights show? This has the feel of the cricket deal done in 2005 that closed off access to the game.

Also, what time are the kick-offs? The EFL is currently the home of the Saturday 3pm, but perhaps not now. Perhaps this is progress, but it looks like the money was taken ahead of a greater good.

Good news here on Frida Maanum, who collapsed when playing for Arsenal last week in the Continental Cup final.

Eddie Howe is first up of the PL managers. He’s celebrating Joelinton signing a new contract:

“I go back to my first training session [at Newcastle] – I genuinely thought ‘what a player he is’. I saw a player immensely talented and I was aware it hadn’t gone well [before Howe arrived].

“In terms of Joelinton’s position, I am not going to change history and say I saw his transition from a forward to midfielder initially, but he has taken that opportunity superbly well.

“I know at previous clubs he has played a deeper role. That transition comes about playing in England with the speed and strength [of the game].

“You have to adapt when you come from abroad – he is robust and everything you want him to be. He is like a brick wall. In part, that has made him the player he is.”

Not a great week for Everton, though a win last weekend and a two-point deduction meant it was not all bad. It could have been worse in the eyes of many, and a further penalty may yet come.

Still, Dominic Calvert-Lewin has scored a goal.

A nasty thing to happen to the Kane family but thankfully the news is good.

Everton news, and it’s rarely good news, is it? This time, it’s news on the source of their financing loans, and a name familiar to horse racing fans, Michael Tabor, has come up.

Everton, a founder member of the Football League and the Premier League, is now believed to owe more than £500m to third-party lenders. Most of the interest charges reported in its annual report appear to relate to about £225m of debt built up with the club’s largest lender Rights & Media Funding (RMF). About £23m in interest was paid by the club in its last financial year and more than £7m in the two previous years.

And some reaction to last night.

Let’s kick it off in the usual way, with 10 things to look out for this weekend.

Preamble