In his exclusive column for CaughtOffside, former Liverpool attacker Stan Collymore discusses some of football’s biggest talking points, including Marcel Sabitzer’s Man United future, Mikel Arteta’s recent touchline antics and which club would be perfect for Mason Mount if he leaves Chelsea, plus much more…
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Man United may have found Newcastle’s weakness…
It’s really simple for me, in elite-level football, there should be enough quality right-footed players and enough quality left-footed players to be able to take set pieces on their natural side.
Newcastle United’s Kieran Trippier is a great set-piece taker, we all know that, but for him to be taking free kicks, especially deep ones, on the left flank makes little sense to me.
With an EFL Cup final coming up, I wonder if Man United have picked up on that and highlighted it as an area of potential weakness because if Trippier finds himself out on the left taking a free kick and United pinch it back quickly, they’ve got someone in Marcus Rashford who they could look to play in quickly and it could be devastating for Newcastle.
From a technical perspective, in my opinion, if you can’t find a left-sided player to take a left-sided free kick and vice versa, you’re doing football wrong. And that’s not just a criticism of the coaches, it’s also a criticism of the players because in training if a player is being asked to jog 30 yards to take a free kick on the opposite side of the pitch they play on, surely he should be asking the question and saying ‘Gaffer, is there not someone else?’ – It’s a bit like strikers taking corners. We’ve seen it in the past with Harry Kane taking corners and I’ve never understood it.
Nick Pope can have no complaints…
Unfortunately for Nick Pope, the rules are the rules so I don’t want to see anyone saying he should receive any kind of special treatment and be allowed to play the EFL Cup final.
READ MORE: Exclusive: Fabrizio Romano makes bold Arsenal and Liverpool predictions
He made a blatant error, there was no disputing that his handball well outside of his area against Liverpool on Saturday was a red card, so he has to serve the punishment the same as every other player has to. Look at Roy Keane and Paul Scholes in 1999 for example, they missed a Champions League final…
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