In an exclusive interview with CasinoApps.com, Chris Sutton discusses the biggest headlines from the world of football. Including; Mo Salah’s contract conundrum, the signing of the transfer window & looking ahead to Celtic’s Champions League campaign.
Full Transcript
Question: Who do you think has been the signing of the window?
Chris Sutton: “It might be considered a boring answer, but I think Manchester City’s signing of Ilkay Gundogan is the signing of the transfer window.
He didn’t cost anything, but that isn’t the reason why I think it’s the best signing. It’s the best signing because you know exactly what you are going to get with him. Pep Guardiola knows his qualities and knows how to get the best out of him to influence a game. He’s going back into a club he knows like the back of his hand. He understands Pep’s methods and demands perfectly.
When you’re competing at the highest level, it’s really all about difference makers. Ilkay Gundogan is one of those players, and he’s demonstrated that throughout his career. I know he’s a little bit older now at 33, but he’s still got that ability to influence games at the highest level. I think that was a really smart piece of business from Manchester City.”
Q: Understanding Enzo Maresca’s decision to move on Raheem Sterling
Chris Sutton: “Raheem Sterling clearly wasn’t wanted at Chelsea, but I don’t have a problem with the manager not wanting him.
The manager has gone into a position where the squad is bloated and top heavy with players. The great debate is whether these decisions to move players on are coming from the owners or if they are down to the manager. We don’t know the answer to that. People are saying that Raheem Sterling played in most of the pre-season games, that means Maresca must have liked him. He might have played in those pre-season games and Maresca may not have liked what he saw from him.
At the end of the day, a decision needed to be made regarding Sterling’s future. There is a lot of competition in the wide areas at Chelsea. I suppose the balanced Chelsea fans would look at someone like Mykhailo Mudryk and think he’s not as good or as well-rounded a player as Raheem Sterling, but ultimately, it’s being presented as the manager’s decision, and he is the one that picks the team.
He’s made his decision, and he has decided that he doesn’t want to keep Raheem Sterling. Maresca made it pretty clear that he didn’t want Sterling at the club; that he wasn’t going to play. I also think that a balanced Chelsea fan would also say that Raheem Sterling’s form at the club during his two years there wasn’t particularly good.”
Q: Signing Sterling is smart business by Arsenal
Chris Sutton: “I think going to Arsenal is a good move for Raheem Sterling. He has that connection with Arteta. I think it’s a really interesting piece of business, a smart piece of business, and I think there are Arsenal fans out there thinking that the club needed to add a little bit more quality and depth to the wide areas of their squad.
Arsenal is signing an experienced player. We’ve seen Sterling produce over the years at the highest level, and if Mikel Arteta can get him anywhere near the level he showed at Manchester City, then it’s going to be a brilliant piece of business by Arsenal.
Could Raheem Sterling be the difference maker in terms of Arsenal making that next step and trying to finish above Manchester City? We’ll have to wait and see.”
Q: Ivan Toney joins the Saudi Pro League. Were you surprised that a Premier League club didn’t move for him and is he wasting his talent over there?
Chris Sutton: “Listen, we don’t need to beat around the bush here. Everyone knows why Saudi Arabia is an attractive proposition for footballers these days. The money on offer is astronomical.
Am I surprised that there wasn’t firm Premier League interest in him? I am, but we don’t know the ins and outs of that and perhaps when the Saudi offer came in for him, that was always going to be the most likely option because of the wages involved.
I think it’s a shame. By moving to the Saudi Pro League at 28, you have to think that he’s throwing away his England career. We didn’t see much of him at the Euros, but when he was involved, he looked good in those cameos, and he has demonstrated that he can play at the top level over the last few years.
Sometimes the grass isn’t always greener. We saw Jota move from Celtic to Saudi for a huge fee, and he’s come back with his tail between his legs this summer and joined Rennes in France.
If I was Toney, it would be a move I was looking at towards the end of my career. Going to Saudi in your prime is a waste of the talent he has. Go there at the end of your career, go in your late thirties, but not in your prime.”
Q: On Lee Carsley
Chris Sutton: “The England job is so difficult. Would the fans be underwhelmed if the FA appointed Lee Carsley on a permanent basis? I think some of them would be, but then again, I also think some of England’s fans would be underwhelmed regardless of who was in the job. Poor old Gareth was given a torrid time by some of them, some of them even launched beer at him, but he took the country to two finals.
When Gareth was appointed, it wasn’t like he had significant managerial experience under his belt, the circumstances were quite similar. He stepped up from the under-21 role and there was a seamless nature about it. Southgate went into the role and really progressed England.
The FA probably thought the same thing could happen under Lee Carsley. It may be a stopgap appointment, a lot will depend on these games coming up, so we will have to wait and see. It’s certainly an opportunity for Lee.
I played with Lee briefly at Blackburn. I didn’t know him inside out but he’s an intelligent football guy and I really admire the way he’s gone into coaching. He’s knuckled down and he’s worked his way up the ladder.
I really do wish him well. He was a good footballer, and he’s shown that he’s certainly a talented coach.”
Q: How do you think he will put his stamp on the team?
Chris Sutton: “Let’s not underestimate the opponents, international football is tricky. Ireland away and Finland at home are games you would expect England to do well in, but funny things can happen.
Lee needs to achieve a couple of results. That’s the most important thing for him. His Under-21 teams have been lauded for their attacking football, but I don’t expect him to go gung-ho; he will have to play with the right balance.
He’ll want to make a big impact in these two games to impress the FA. He’s picked a strong squad. He’s brought Jack Grealish and Harry Maguire back into the squad, so it will be interesting to see what he does with those two players. He’s also promoted players that he knows really well from the Under-21’s in Morgan Gibbs-White and Angel Gomes, and I think it will be interesting to see if one of those players are given a big role. I don’t think they will be. I assume he will go with his strongest, most experienced team.”
Q: A stinging defeat for Erik ten Hag and Manchester United at home to Liverpool. Should people be surprised by the result? Because, for me, it wasn’t a shock to see Liverpool trounced United away from home.
Chris Sutton: “No, I wasn’t surprised by the scoreline at all. I often get slaughtered for my predictions and people accuse me of being negative towards Manchester United, but that’s only because I’ve seen them play! I had Liverpool down to win 1-2, so perhaps I was being a bit kind towards them (laughs).
The serious point is that the club made the decision for Erik ten Hag to stay on after winning the FA Cup. It was well known that they were looking for another manager and couldn’t find one, so Erik ten Hag stayed. The question I think Manchester United fans will be asking after the first three games is: ‘Has there been any noticeable change or improvement? Do they look like they’re going to make progress under Ten Haag?’ The truthful answer to both would be no.
He’s won a couple of cups since he’s been at Manchester United but, overall, I think last season the club went backwards. Most people recognise that – the FA Cup win saved his job.
INEOS have come in with Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox, who I played with at Blackburn, and there has been a lot of changes behind-the-scenes at the club. Manchester United have got a couple of tricky away games on the horizon in Southampton, who are without a win but will be looking to take a scalp, and Crystal Palace, who trounced them last year 4-0 at Selhurst Park. They’re games that United fans will be expecting to win, and they could really bring the heat on ten Hag.”
Q: It doesn’t look like anything has changed since Jim Ratcliffe and his team have come into play, and it feels like Erik ten Hag is always a game away from the vultures circling and questions being asked about his long-term future. He would have known the pressure would have ramped up if United got off to a poor start.
Chris Sutton: “There’s no doubt that Erik ten Hag would have been aware of the speculation and the vultures circling if Man United got off to a poor start this season, which is why it was so important for his team to get off to a good start to build that backing and faith within the United fanbase.
United narrowly defeated Fulham in the first game with a late winner, but that was a game that could have gone against them because Fulham had good opportunities. They got the victory over the line and breathed a huge sigh of relief, but they then followed that up with a defeat at Brighton. After the incident with Joshua Zirkzee, Erik ten Hag would be forgiven for thinking that that things are contriving to go against his team, but there was no excuse for allowing Pedro to have acres of space inside the box and to head in the winner in the last minute.
Against Liverpool, at home, because of the great rivalry and the fact that Manchester United somehow managed to get a couple of results against Liverpool last season, you’re hoping for a response. I actually think the manner of the defeat is more damaging than the result itself. Liverpool have great quality, but the way that Manchester United capitulated has to be the biggest red flag for Erik ten Hag and now he’s got to ponder that over the international break.
What we do know though is the next couple of games are absolutely crucial for him and when they come back after the international break, they have to hit the ground running.”
Q: On Casemiro
Chris Sutton: “One thing that Erik ten Hag will be thinking about between now and United’s trip to Southampton is Casemiro’s future. He was hooked at half-time, which I thought was the right decision, but it was also an admission that he got his starting line-up badly wrong.
So, there’s plenty of things for ten Hag to ponder.”
Q: One of the criticisms that’s been levelled at Ten Hag, is that over his tenure, there hasn’t been a clear playing style or an identity on the pitch. He was a bit cute with the media when they asked him about the new signing from PSG, the ball-winning midfielder Manuel Ugarte, and he said, “I’m not Harry Potter. if I put him in my team, it’s not going to change things overnight.” My challenge to that would be, you’ve been there for two seasons, shouldn’t the fans expect to see a little bit of an identity on the pitch?
Chris Sutton: “I think the criticism, and it was a legitimate criticism last season of Manchester United, was they didn’t control enough games.
What is their identity? I always felt that Manchester United under Erik ten Hag are a much better counter-attacking team who can suck up pressure and hurt you on the break. That style hasn’t happened enough because to play like that, you must be solid and well organised, and that structure and organisation has been missing from the majority of Manchester United’s performances.
In his first season, he took over the club in a really difficult position and that’s where I do have a bit of sympathy for him. I think he exceeded expectations with the third-place finish, but then you thought, ‘Manchester United are going to build next season and get closer to Manchester City’. That must have been the goal, and they finished eighth. They won the FA Cup, but you must look at the season as a whole, and they really underperformed; they went backwards. He clung onto that FA Cup win, and it kept him in his job, but after everything that happened in the summer, getting off to a good start was absolutely crucial. He hasn’t started well and that’s why questions are being asked at the moment.”
Q: Have Liverpool hit the jackpot on the Slot machine? He’s got his team purring after three games
Chris Sutton: “I like the way Arne Slot has handled the situation of going into the club and replacing such a huge figure in Jurgen Klopp. Everybody was slightly concerned about Liverpool’s lack of business in the transfer window before they added Chiesa, but everything looks very settled at the club.
They’ve got off to a very good start under him. You could caveat that by saying they’ve beaten Ipswich; they’ve beaten Brentford and they’ve beaten Manchester United. No one knows what Manchester United are going to offer this season, but in those three matches, they’ve kept three clean sheets.
Manchester United lacked any control of the game, while Liverpool were so dominant and so impressive.
I don’t think anybody really knew with Slot taking over how long it would take for him to find his feet, and naturally you think a new manager needs time. Watching the game at the weekend, from the two performances, you would have thought that Erik ten Hag was the Premier League rookie on his third game of management, and Slot was the more experienced on his third year.
You know what Liverpool are doing and you understand their identity. You don’t quite know what Manchester United are still.
Slot’s created a really good reputation for himself. Walking into Klopp’s huge, huge shoes, was always going to be difficult. He has and he’s gone in and done it his way.
It’s only three games. That’ll be the message he’s enforcing to the Liverpool players, you know, let’s not get carried away yet, let’s keep going. It’s a good start, but that’s all it is at the moment.”
Q: Mo Salah mentioned in the aftermath of the Manchester United victory that nobody at the club had spoken to him about renewing his contract and it was his last year. The 32-year-old Egyptian has looked as sharp as ever this season – do you think this will be his last year in the league, and if it is, do you expect him to go out with a bang?
Chris Sutton: “If the comments that Mo Salah made about not being offered a new Liverpool contract are true, I would find that pretty amazing. Given what he has done at the club, I would find it hard to believe that Liverpool haven’t offered him a new deal or at least had a conversation about it.
I don’t understand that. Of course, he’s not the only key player in the last year of their Liverpool contract. Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold are in the same position. Perhaps because Salah and van Dijk are the wrong side of thirty, Liverpool want to be cautious about offering them long terms, because they are not the kind of club that hand out long contracts.
I am surprised that Salah is in this position. Salah has come back, he looks super hungry, super fit, and he offers Liverpool great quality. It will be interesting how this one with him pans out. Players and clubs can change their mind. I would be staggered if he carries on this level of form and there isn’t some sort of offer from Liverpool. I’m sure there will be.
I think that everybody feels the same way. We don’t want to see Mo Salah going to Saudi. Not yet anyway. Not when he’s got so much to offer.”
Q: On Newcastle United
Chris Sutton: “I don’t think that Eddie Howe looks entirely happy at Newcastle United this season. There’s no doubt that Marc Guehi was the player he wanted to bring into the club. He was his number one target, and you have to wonder if the fact that Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi have left the club had an impact on that signing. They were both strong allies of Eddie Howe, and new people like Paul Mitchell have come in to replace them.
He’s hinted that all may not be well behind-the-scenes. On the pre-season tour, he mentioned that there wasn’t a total alignment in what he wanted to do and the new hierarchy.
That set alarm bells off because Eddie Howe isn’t a loudmouth. He’s measured; he doesn’t shoot from the hip. If you think about his career in management, he’s never really made a statement like that before. He’s a deep thinker, so for him to come out and even suggest that they weren’t in alignment worries me.
Eddie would have had his targets, and he’s not got them. I think that could be a problem further down the line.
Eddie has done a phenomenal job at Newcastle. I’m not privy to what goes on in the background at the club, but for him to speak as openly as he did, that would concern me if I was a Newcastle United fan.
The club managed to hold onto Alexander Isak, Bruno and Anthony Gordon, which is important. For Newcastle to make the next step, they need to retain their best players, but they also need to strengthen. Guehi was a player who Howe felt would allow him to do that, and the club didn’t get it over the line for whatever reason. Howe has every right to feel pretty peeved about that.
There could be problems on the horizon (between the manager and the board). Newcastle have had a reasonable start, but the performances haven’t been there, and they sort of got away with one at the weekend against Tottenham.”
Q: With Unai Emery in charge and his European experience, do you expect Villa to manage the churn of domestic and European football a little bit better than Newcastle did last season?
Chris Sutton: “That’s the big debate. Can Aston Villa manage the increased workload of Champions League and Premier League football and remain competitive in both?
I think it’s fair to make the comparison to Newcastle United. They struggled to deal with the twin demands.
Have Villa got the strength in depth in the squad to cope on numerous fronts? We know that Emery has a tremendous record in Europe and has that experience of managing a squad with an increased workload. He did well with Villareal in the Champions League the last time he managed in the competition, and they had a relatively small squad compared to some of the giants in Spain.
Emery knows how to get the balance right.”
Q: Aston Villa are going to be playing in the Champions League this season. Do you think they will surprise a few teams in the competition?
Chris Sutton: “They have absolutely flown since Emery’s gone in there; they’re superbly organised and I think they could ruffle a few feathers in Europe this season. He will need a bit of luck in terms of keeping the core of his squad, his best players, fit.
If Villa get a few injuries to key members of the team, that could cause them problems. Injuries to key members of the team will stretch the squad, which is what happened at Newcastle last season.
Villa can give anybody, and I mean anybody, a bloody nose.”
Q: Celtic smashed Rangers on Sunday 3-0. Do you want to single out any players for praise?
Chris Sutton: “Callum McGregor, the captain, he’s a brilliant footballer. Sadly, for Steve Clarke, he’s stepped down from the international team to concentrate solely on club football.
He just makes Celtic tick. He sits in that number six position. I say that, but he’s scored three magnificent goals this season; magnificent strikes, albeit yesterday, his goal had a touch of a deflection, but Celtic are playing really, really well.
Kyogo Furuhashi loves playing against Rangers. He’s a really intelligent player. He’s not the biggest, but his speed is excellent, and his brain, the way his brain works is wonderful. He scored a good goal; he links Superbly well.
Nicholas Kuhn, who came in last January and didn’t really get up to speed. He had a dental issue, which strangely enough, knocked him back and he never produced last season. He has had a really strong pre-season, and he’s come back and looked exceptionally sharp.”
Q: Celtic’s Champions League opponents have been drawn. Brendan Rodgers must be delighted with the draw. Is it the perfect draw for the club?
Chris Sutton: “Brendan must have been absolutely thrilled with the Champions League fixtures when the draw came out. The Champions League has been an issue for Celtic in recent seasons.
I go up to watch the games and the atmosphere at Celtic Park, everybody talks about the atmosphere at Celtic Park, it’s an amazing stadium with an amazing atmosphere. Nobody does the big European nights better than they do in the East End of Glasgow.
But that’s all pre-kickoff. You then want to see the team perform on the pitch.
I thought last season Celtic had a gentle group, Brendan Rodgers begs to differ, and he took some positives from the club’s performances in the Champions league last season, but I viewed it differently. Celtic are more than capable of beating Feyenoord, and they were more than capable of beating Lazio, who were struggling in Serie A at the time. Atletico Madrid, I get that, they’re a difficult opponent, I get their strength, but Celtic were out after four games. That’s a massive disappointment; they couldn’t have gone out any earlier.
There’s plenty to improve upon for Celtic in Europe this season.”
Q: Why a kind draw ramps up the pressure
Chris Sutton: “Looking at the draw this year, with a new competition format, I think it has been kind to Celtic but, in many ways, that just magnifies the pressure because the expectation amongst the fan base will be higher. They will want to see an improvement in their team in Europe, and these fixtures represent a real opportunity for Celtic to deliver that.
The first match is against Slovan Bratislava at home. They just lost their last game in the Slovakian League 0-5 – the expectation on Celtic to beat them will be absolutely huge.
I’m reading that several thinktank’s have crunched the numbers and eight points will be enough to get into the play-off positions, obviously, time will tell on that.
Celtic have some games that everyone will be expecting them to take points from, winnable games against Young Boys, Bruges and Dinamo Zagreb. Those are matches where the fans will be expecting something from; they will expect their team to compete in the Champions League with the fixtures they’ve been given.
I know they’ve got Dortmund and Leipzig, but Celtic have beaten Leipzig in the recent past and played pretty well against them. Then there’s Aston Villa, which is a mouth-watering tie. That’s the last game, which is a bit of a shame because there might not be anything on it.
Celtic can’t be complacent. They have a poor record in Europe that they need to put right. It’s a different type of pressure that they will be facing, because, without being disrespectful to the teams they’re facing, there isn’t a fixture against Real Madrid, Manchester City or Arsenal in there. On the whole, they have mostly winnable games.
Dortmund’s a tricky one, Atalanta won the Europa League. There are enough fixtures that Brendan Rodgers and the Celtic players will have been relatively happy with. There aren’t some of the glamour ties, but there are ties where you think, ‘what a chance’.”
Q: Get off to a flying start
Chris Sutton: “It’s all about the opportunity to get off to a flying start and to get some points on the board as quickly as possible. An opening fixture against Slovan Bratislava is the perfect opportunity to do that. It’s the kind of fixture you want to help you build momentum. Win and carry that on to the next one.
Football is an extreme game. Draw or lose, and it could be an uphill battle before you’ve even really started given the expectation that the fans will have on winning this match. That’s the pressure of the Champions League.”
Q: The barometer for Celtic improvement has to be the Champions League
Chris Sutton: “The way that Celtic wiped the floor with Rangers in the Old Firm derby, I think a lot of Celtic fans will be looking at the Champions League campaign this season and thinking this is where we will really learn about the team, and this is where we’ll see if there has been progression.
The Champions League will be the barometer and Celtic fans will be thinking what an opportunity this is.
Celtic are in a really good place at the moment. They had a brilliant pre-season, where they picked up some decent scalps against the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea, and they’ve carried that good form into the new season.
Beating Rangers in the manner which they did, the Old Firm is normally a game where you go and watch and you’re biting your nails, but that wasn’t the case. It was a breeze in the park.”
Q: Celtic transfer business
Chris Sutton: “The clamour to replace O’Riley with quality players was always going to be important business for the club. Matt O’Riley was sensational for Celtic last season, and Brendan has repeatedly mentioned the need for the club to add more quality to the squad to compete, particularly in when it comes to the Champions League.
They’ve made a fair few signings. Arne Engels, 20-year-old from Augsburg, Belgian international, who has joined for a club record fee of £11m. That’s a considerable amount of money For Celtic to spend and he comes in with a good reputation. Brendan’s strongest suit, in my opinion, is improving players.
if you look at Matt O’Riley, Ange Postecoglou brought him to Celtic and did a brilliant job, but last season, you could see he had taken his game to another level. Brendan nurtured him really well and that was why Brighton really wanted to sign him, which they eventually did, for a club record sales fee for Celtic of up to £30m. You can also see that Alistair Johnston is really improving under Brendan’s coaching.
I think Kasper Schmeichel is a really smart piece of business bearing in mind whose gloves he has to fill. Joe Hart was excellent at Celtic, but Kasper Schmeichel coming in, he has that presence and that authority which I think you need at a club with the expectation of Celtic and the expectation of 60,000 fans in Celtic Park.
Austin Trusty from Sheffield United comes in as a centre back, I think they needed cover in that position. The club also signed Alex Valle, a young left-back from Barcelona, and the club needed some competition there for Greg Taylor.
Luke McCowan, who has been excellent now for a season and a bit at Dundee, he’s come in. I like the signing. H’s a Celtic fan and it was really nice to see him coming on against Rangers and to see the reaction of his dad in the stand because he is a mad Celtic fan.
I think Celtic have done some reasonable business. We can’t judge them yet. We will have to wait and see if they will all be good signings, but the expectation is that they’ll all come in and hit the ground running. It’s not as simple as that. It will take time.
Arne Engels is the one who everybody will be looking at because of the size of fee. It’s not a huge amount of money down south, but that’s considerable for Celtic. Celtic know that they, to some extent, are a development club because of the gulf in finances between the Premier League and the SPFL. Celtic and Rangers can’t compete with what’s happening down there.
Celtic are a very well-run club, but there’s a trade-off. The supporters don’t want the money in the bank, they want to see more quality coming in.”
