William Saliba was sent off for Arsenal in their loss to Bournemouth last weekendCredit: Getty
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Arsenal have had three red cards in eight Premier League games this seasonCredit: Reuters
When fellow Frenchman Patrick Vieira was dismissed in a home game with the Reds in August 2000, there was indeed talk of crisis in Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal team.
Despite a 2-0 victory over a Liverpool side reduced to nine men, Vieira’s second red in three days — following one at Sunderland — stole the headlines.
The World Cup winner threatened to leave the English game and team-mate Dennis Bergkamp was concerned enough to voice fears on the combative midfielder’s future.
But for Arsenal’s captain that day, Tony Adams, Vieira’s disciplinary record and reaction to his latest misdemeanour were water off a duck’s back.
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Adams recalled, chuckling: “It was par for the course, Patrick getting sent off — everyday occurrence.
“He’s been hurt, he’s reacted, ‘Oh, I can’t play in this league if I’m going to get sent off every week!’
“It’s a childish thing to say but I wouldn’t expect it any other way.
“We footballers aren’t known for emotional maturity, and Dennis was always worried about something!
Tony Adams won four league titles across more than 20 years at ArsenalCredit: Getty
“If I thought Patrick was being out of order, I would have had a quiet word. But I wasn’t going to go up to Patrick and say, ‘Calm yourself down, for God’s sake!’
“Because that was half of his game. I needed that from him.
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“And if sometimes we got red cards — and Arsene said, ‘Oh, I didn’t see it’ — then that’s the way it was.”
Arsenal’s red mist tally during Wenger’s 22-year reign really was something with 118 dismissals — 78 of them in the Premier League.
In almost six seasons ex-England centre-half Adams played under the Gunners’ most successful boss, the team racked up 43 red cards.
There were 11 in all competitions in 2001-02, with three dismissals in the league before November — just like this season.
Yet that campaign ended with the second Double of Wenger’s tenure as Adams completed over two decades of service to the club in style.
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Adams said: “It was never a thing internally, it was never on the agenda to say, ‘Let’s not have too many red cards today’.
“We went out to score goals, keep clean sheets and win matches.
“If we picked up reds along the way, even with ten men we more than likely beat teams anyway.
“It was always in Arsenal’s handbook you’d have to pay a fine for reds for verbals but not for tackles.
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“When they were closing down people, putting in tackles and getting involved, putting pressure on teams and maybe mistiming a tackle to get a yellow or a red, I didn’t have a problem with that.
“I would rather have had that than have no-one getting sent off and accepting losing every week.”
But Adams, 58, acknowledges that the current situation at the Gunners is different.
Saliba was sent off for a professional foul at Bournemouth, while Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard were shown second yellow cards for kicking the ball away against Brighton and Manchester City, respectively.
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The latter two incidents were part of a crackdown by refs on players delaying restarts.
Adams agrees with the criticism of Rice’s second booking, calling it “ridiculous”.
But he reckons that Trossard could have no complaints about his and Arsenal now need to “smarten up”, individually and collectively.
Adams said: “You are expected to be competitive.
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“If that leads to yellow or red cards, any manager in the country would tell you, ‘Well played’.
“But if you are doing it for misunderstanding rules then it’s a lack of discipline really. So smarten up, guys. Learn the rules.”
As for Saliba and the foul on Evanilson that led to him being sent off last weekend, Adams has been there and done that.
Back in November 1996, he was shown a straight card for hauling down Alan Shearer on the edge of the box at St James’ Park.
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Adams recalled: “I got my positioning wrong and Shearer went in behind me and I took him out.
“I got such a roasting for that one. Arsene said, ‘He has still got to beat David Seaman — one of the best goalkeepers in the world — why have you done that and put us a man down?’ I learned from that and never did it again. Saliba has to learn, too.
“When you’re not so quick, like me, you have to be really alert to the situation and give the forward a few yards.
“But when you are quick like Saliba, then you can get yourself out of jail.”
In contrast, on the day Adams was sent off at Newcastle, the Gunners won 2-1 thanks to Ian Wright’s second-half winner.
In that August 2000 game against Liverpool that prompted Vieira’s meltdown, Arsenal took an early lead through Lauren and Reds midfielder Gary McAllister was sent off before half time.
Vieira was shown his second yellow card in the 73rd minute to make it ten vs ten but Liverpool’s Didi Hamann received his second booking soon afterwards and Thierry Henry scored at the death to seal the 2-0 win.
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Vieira’s threat to quit English football proved empty as he stayed to help Arsenal win the Double in 2002 and captain them in the Invincibles season of 2003-04.
The Gunners have not won the title since and Adams reckons they need to show more of that Vieira fire — and risk getting the right kind of red card — if they are to end that drought.
Adams added: “I’d like Arsenal to be more aggressive in making tackles and closing down.
“George Graham always said, ‘If you kick someone, pick them up. Then kick them again. Then pick them up again. And then kick them again.’
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“Under George and Arsene, we were a team of winners. Sometimes we walked the line because we were fiercely competitive.
“But I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”
Arsenal ratings vs Shakhtar: Jesus reminds fans of his quality but Trossard flops for poor Gunners
ARSENAL continued their unbeaten run in the Champions League with a 1-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk – but it was far from a convincing performance.
Gabriel Martinelli orchestrated the decisive goal when his low-driven strike hit the post and deflected in off the back of goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk.
Seldom asked to do much aside from recycle the ball to Gabriel or Saliba until the final stages
Pushed a potentially dangerous cross out of danger in the 84th minute. Pulled out a magnificent low save in injury time before claiming a dangerous cross to keep his clean sheet.
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BEN WHITE – 6
Back in at right-back today and played as if he had never been out of the team.
Received a yellow card in the 34th minute. Subbed at half-time for Mikel Merino.
WILLIAM SALIBA – 7
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In the team after his red card against Bournemouth, played like his typically assured self marshalling the defence.
One or two sloppy passes late in the second half but otherwise can have no complaints with another solid performance.
GABRIEL MAGALHAES – 5
Sloppily gave the ball away to hand the visitors a dangerous chance out of nothing. Had another lapse just after the opener but in the end he was bailed out by Calafiori.
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Marked improvement in the second half.
RICCARDO CALAFIORI – 6
Skied a golden chance over the bar after six minutes. Tested the goalkeeper again after 24 minutes.
Dragged his foot and went down injured after skipping under a tackle in the 67th minute. Replaced by Myles Lewis-Skelly in 71st minute.
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THOMAS PARTEY – 6
Comfortable evening in midfield for him. Recycled the ball well when at his feet and kept play ticking over.
Moved to right back as White was hooked but didn’t have too many worries. When he was caught out of position Rice was able to cover.
DECLAN RICE – 6
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Like Partey, he had a quiet night in midfield with Shakhtar unable to retain meaningful possession.
Moved into the six as White was hooked and Partey moved to right-back. Cut out a dangerous low cross at the edge of the area.
LEANDRO TROSSARD – 4
Nothing quite went right for him all night with some sloppy touches ending attacks and putting Arsenal in trouble.
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Summed up his night by missing a 77th minute penalty and was hooked in the 88th minute.
GABRIEL JESUS – 8
Wore the captain’s armband and looked bright down the right wing.
Denied a well-deserved goal by the feet of the keeper in the 43rd minute after Havertz played him in.
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Second half saw more good link play, but never had another chance to end his goal drought as he was replaced by Sterling in the 68th minute.
GABRIEL MARTINELLI – 7
Grew into the game following a quiet start and was rewarded with a goal, of sorts, after 30 minutes.
Brazilian cut inside from the left wing before firing a shot to the near post before the shot rebounded off the woodwork and hit the goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk to go in the net.
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KAI HAVERTZ – 7
Centimeters away from getting Arsenal’s second in the 39th minute after Jesus squared a volley back across goal.
Returned the favour to set up his team-mate moments later only for the goalkeeper to prevent a goal.
Won a free-kick at the very end of the game to run the clock down.
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SUBS
Mikel Merino (on for White HT) – 6
Some nice touches and stitched play together well. A solid yet unspectacular performance.
Raheem Sterling (on for Jesus 68 mins) – 6
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Tried to play on the shoulder of the last man but did not have the pace find the clear cut chance he would have liked.
Myles Lewis-Skelly (on for Calafiori 71 mins) – 6
Slotted in at left-back and was not afraid to show for the ball but often did not receive it while tucking infield.
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NO HUBS NO HOOBS (3.15 Wincanton, nap)
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He finished last season with three wins in a row with this sort of marathon trip right up his street. He keeps it simple from the front and will be hard to beat on comeback with more improvement likely.
TAKT DE TOUQUES (3.00 Aintree, nb)
He won all three bumpers last season without hitting top gear. Those efforts were all over two miles but this longer trip should be fine and he has more to come now he’s jumping hurdles.
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SKYJACK HIJACK (12.40 Aintree, treble)
He’s gunning for a hat-trick of wins after lagging in at Perth last time by 12 lengths. He has really improved since facing a test of stamina like this and he still looks ahead of the handicapper.
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Despite not working together for nearly two years, the UFC CEO and the former heavyweight champion rarely escape questions about each other. The latest fracas started after White revealed that he wanted to cut Ngannou after he suffered back-to-back losses in the UFC in 2018.
That earned a response from Ngannou, who called his former boss a “bully” and added that White is probably “praying for my downfall” while also claiming that the UFC actually owes money that was promised to him after wins over Ciryl Gane and Stipe Miocic.
“When have you ever heard a story in all the years we’ve been in business, even when it was upside down, where we owed somebody money? Never happened,” White said about Ngannou’s claims at the UFC 308 post-fight press conference. “So he’s full of shit there.
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“Then, I lost? I didn’t lose anything. I was done with Francis after the [Derrick Lewis fight]. Actually, he owes me money because we had to watch that fight with him and ‘The Black Beast.’ He should actually pay me back for that fight and all of you. Me praying [for his downfall] — trust me, I don’t think about Francis that much. You guys ask me the question about the PFL and I responded. Other than that, the only one who’s praying for his demise is probably the PFL because they signed a shitty contract with a guy that doesn’t deliver any numbers and ticket sales or pay-per-views. They’ve got to keep paying this guy for however long and good for him. Not good for them.”
As much as White maintained that he absolutely wanted to release Ngannou from the UFC roster, there’s no denying that he bounced back from those losses and eventually won the heavyweight title. Ngannou’s run with the UFC ended after six straight wins including victories over four ex-champions.
But White says the issues he had with Ngannou had nothing to do with his talent as a fighter but rather personal problems between them that spiraled out of control. While he didn’t reveal the nature of their fallout, White explained that his relationship with Ngannou was never the same again.
“Someday, I’ll tell you the story. I was all about Francis in the beginning and then I found out who Francis was,” White said. “I told the two guys who asked me not to cut Francis when somebody shows you who they are, believe them. Believe me, I have no sleepless nights over Francis leaving.
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“I didn’t like Francis as a person. It wasn’t a guy I wanted to do business with. My boys were telling me he’s misunderstood. I told them when somebody shows you who they are, believe them. It wasn’t about him becoming heavyweight champion of the world. Francis isn’t a good guy. He plays the good guy. ‘I don’t understand the language’ so he seems like he’s a nice guy. He’s not, and he’s just not a guy I wanted to be in business with, period. End of story. Whether he became the champion or not.”
Ngannou obviously left in free agency before booking a pair of boxing matches against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua before finally making his PFL debut with a win over Renan Ferreira.
He remains under contract with the PFL but has also hinted at a potential return to boxing in the future.
No matter where he goes next, White promises there’s no word where he ever gets back in business with Ngannou again.
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“We won’t be. We’ll never be in business together,” White said. “You can tell. We don’t like each other. This goes back to before the first Stipe fight. He pulled some shit before the first Stipe fight, and I said I’m done with this guy and then Stipe beat the shit out of him. Great night. We never had a relationship after that.”
It’s safe to say that White won’t be bending over backwards to present Ngannou with any opportunities and that includes a potential fight against UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
While that’s a matchup that White desperately wanted to see once upon a time, that’s no longer and option and if Jones is going to fight anybody after he faces Miocic at UFC 309, it certainly won’t be Ngannou.
“He didn’t want that fight,” White said about Ngannou facing Jones. “He could have stayed and took that fight. He didn’t want that fight. Tom Aspinall deserves that fight.”
Match of the Day pundit and former Southampton winger Theo Walcott analyses how Saints’ style caused problems for Premier League champions Manchester City.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella reckons the team’s execution let it down in Mexico Grand Prix qualifying and felt pole was possible.
But Lando Norris, who was quickest in both Q1 and Q2, suggested he had hit the limit of potential in his car.
He was unable to hit the ground running at the start of Q3 and was only fifth fastest at the end of the opening runs before improving on his follow-up effort, which earned him third on the grid.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Stella felt that performance was ‘left behind’ in qualifying, also noting Oscar Piastri’s mistake at Turn 12 that consigned him to a surprising Q1 exit having headlined FP3 earlier on Saturday.
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“Overall I would say the car during this qualifying session was competitive, and was in a condition to score the pole position, even though Carlos in the final session kind of raised the bar quite a bit,” said Stella.
“If we take the natural progression, then with Lando we might have been there. But we have to say that the two laps in Q3, they weren’t great.
“In the first one, there were a couple of mistakes – these overheated the tyres and then the tyres were going away from Lando.
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
“In the second one, it wasn’t very clean, but it was important to make sure that it was decent enough to be there in the first or the second row.
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“So we’re all encouraged that the car was performing well, but at the same time, from an execution point of view, we left a little bit of performance behind, especially with Oscar in Q1, where he had the lap time deleted and he missed it.
“We have quite a lot of work ahead of us to get back in the points.”
Norris did not necessarily agree with Stella’s assessment and explained: “I was at the limit.
“I couldn’t go any quicker, it’s more I think the others just didn’t get the most out of it. Pretty much every corner I was close to locking up and making mistakes, and I did that in my Q3 run one lap.
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“But I definitely had nowhere near close to three-tenths left in the car. So it was more that they just went quicker.
“I got everything out of the car already in Q1 and Q2 and made us look like the ones to beat. But honestly, since FP1 Ferrari have been the guys to beat, and Carlos is on top today, so it’ll be challenging to beat them tomorrow.”
Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Speaking later to Sky, Norris explained that he had to drive with restraint to get a decent qualifying time out of the car in Q3, although he noted that this still wasn’t particularly clean.
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He conceded that making a play for the lead into the first corner might be his best chance of beating the Ferraris on race pace on Sunday.
“I struggled to get much more out of the car in the final two laps. I tried in Q3, round one, but it clearly didn’t work. So I just had to drive much more under the limit in the second run.
“I’m happy. I think we just have not had the pace of the Ferrari all weekend. Maybe we could have had Max, but he did a good lap; mine was not as clean as maybe I would have liked. I just wanted to get a good-ish lap in.
“I think turn one, lap one will be our best opportunity [to win the race]. But Ferrari are just doing things well at the minute.”
That’s the question Dana White posed to the media after the conclusion of UFC 308 on Saturday at Etihad Arena.
Of course, White is talking about the next title challenger for UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, who furthered his stardom with a massive knockout of Max Holloway in the card’s main event.
After the fight, Volkanovski (26-4 MMA, 13-3 UFC) was brought in the cage as UFC commentator Daniel Cormier interviewed Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC). The move isn’t always done by the promotion, but is usually indicative of its future plans when it does occur.
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“Volkanovski’s one of those guys,” White told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a post-fight news conference. “We’re not going to say no to Volkanovski.”
While other top contenders, such as UFC 308 backup fighter Diego Lopes, have emerged in the title conversation, White indicated Volkanovski’s past as a company man, willing to bail the promotion out of difficult situations has nudged the UFC in his favor.
“He’s been that guy for us any time we needed him,” White said. “He’s been on this run like (Israel) Adesanya and like Alex (Pereira) is on right now. When things don’t go our way and you’ve got to call a guy, Volkanovski has always been that guy. He really was. For him to ask for it, I don’t think anybody in this room is going, ‘Oh, this is ridiculous’ or crazy. Who wouldn’t want to see it again?”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.
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