Slotting right in

GM football fans. Route One here, and we’re covering squad sustainability, Slot’s spotless preseason and much more.

Here’s one for the FPL managers: Last season, over 90% of Fantasy Premier League managers owned Erling Haaland. But now only 37% of managers own the Manchester City forward… will his hat-trick against Chelsea in preseason change anyone’s mind? Well, according to FPL, the hat-trick has already had an impact on his ownership.

STATS

Olympics Men’s Semi-Final: France vs Egypt (Today at 20:00 BST)

→ France have won all four of their games at the Olympics so far without conceding a goal.

→ This is the first time France and Egypt have ever met at the Olympic level. However, the two nations have faced off seven times at senior level with three wins for France and two for Egypt alongside two draws.

Olympics Men’s Semi-Final: Morocco vs Spain (Today at 17:00 BST)

→ Morocco and Spain have faced off five times at senior and Olympic level, with Spain winning twice and Morocco once.

→ Morocco’s Soufiane Rahimi is the top scorer in the Olympics men’s football tournament with five goals so far; at least two more than any other player.

Men’s and women’s Paris Olympics football fixtures here.

Plus…

• All Premier League pre-season fixtures and results (More)

• UEFA Champions League play-off round draw will happen today at 08:30 CET (More)

• Manchester City to charge disabled fans £228 a season for parking which was previously free (More)

• Chelsea have ‘banished’ Conor Gallagher from the squad and he will not train with the first team (More)

PREMIER LEAGUE

Arsenal tops the list for most sustainable squad

Data suggests Arsenal is the most ‘sustainable’ squad in world football, per CIES Football Observatory. The study accounts for the average age of the squad and contract policy at each club.

And it’s no mean feat… Arsenal rank first out of 800 clubs from 59 teams in the world because:

• They have a young squad - last season they had the third youngest in the Premier League, with only 3% over the age of 31.

• But, most importantly, the young players are shaped by long-term contracts as only 11% of their squad have contracts expiring before 2025.

On top of this, Arsenal have one of the best loan management systems in the world. Although they don’t rank higher than Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool when it comes to academy players transitioning into the first team, they develop their players with a meticulous four-step loan process.

Interestingly, at the time of the report, Arsenal had the smallest squad across the European ranking with only 40 players.

Reigning Premier League champions Manchester City rank fourth as they have an ageing squad (10% over 31 years old), of which some of the most important players, such as 33-year-old Kevin De Bruyne and 34-year-old Kyle Walker, have already played at their peak.

Aston Villa (second) and Brentford (sixth) also make the top 10 in the Premier League.

At the other end of the table, Newcastle rank the worst of last year’s Premier League clubs in terms of sustainability with 46% of their players’ contracts are set to expire in or before 2025.

POLL

HEAD START

💰 Gary Neville buys out Singapore businessman Peter Lim’s shares in Salford. Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has bought out Peter Lim’s 40% stake in Salford City, ending his 10-year affiliation with the League Two side. The cost of Neville’s buyout has not been reported. Neville - alongside his brother Phil, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and David Beckham bought the club in 2014 with Lim. In 2019, Beckham purchased a further 10% from Lim, reducing his stake to 40%.

😬 West Brom Albion will be restricted by EFL business plan. With money issues linked to the previous owners, the Championship side are in danger of failing to stay within the financial guidelines of the League. As such, West Brom have been placed under an EFL-imposed business plan which will limit their transfer activity in this window. In total, nine players have so far left the Hawthorns this summer as the club tries to reduce its wage bill.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scottish Premiership season opens with a draw. The opening game of the 2024-25 season between Heart of Midlothian and Rangers ended with an entertaining goalless draw. The result suggests that last season’s runners-up remain a work in progress as manager Philippe Clement hopes for more signings to be made before the end of the window. Celtic won 4-0 vs Kilmarnock in a comfortable opening game for the reigning champions. Find the Opta predictions for the Scottish Premiership 2024-25 here.

PREMIER LEAGUE

Slotting right in, Liverpool’s spotless preseason record

Despite not signing a player in this summer transfer window, Liverpool have completed their pre-season tour of the United States with a 100% win record.

What does ‘Slot ball’ look like?

While fans should take preseason results with a pinch of salt, Liverpool’s new manager has introduced a clear play style.

Slot is implementing an unusual 3-4-4 shape, and it seems that he’s not asking his full-backs to invert or his centre-backs to join the midfield. In typical Dutch fashion, Slot ball is more possessional-heavy, featuring shorter passes and more interchanging of positions.

Just take a look at Tsimikas’s goal in their 3-0 victory over Manchester United to see that style executed perfectly.

Slot’s biggest headache?

Even with a spotless preseason, every manager in the Premier League has to face a headache or two. It’s part of the job.

In Slot’s case, he has two good ‘headaches’: Trent Alexander-Arnold and Fabio Carvalho.

With Conor Bradley’s emergence last season and his brilliant preseason, Slot will have to work out soon whether Alexander-Arnold is his first-choice right-back or whether he advances further up the pitch. The need to renew the England star’s contract, which expires next summer, will act as the proverbial ticking timebomb.

Then there’s Carvalho. While Liverpool have rejected Fulham and Southampton’s £15mn offer for the midfielder, there are still question marks over whether Liverpool will sell the 21-year-old.

Having scored two goals in preseason, and filling the absences of both Diaz and Gakpo, the question is: Should Slot make space for Carvalho in the team?

Either way, as squad depth is the name of the game this season, the lack of signings in this summer’s transfer window has frustrated some fans.

But it might be for good reason… One source says that the “word inside the club” is that Liverpool are being careful not to disrupt the fine-tuned group built by Klopp and the calibre of player needed is so high that there are only a few options in world football that would improve the squad.

With big boots to fill, literally and figuratively, Slot has shown positive signs so far.

AROUND THE FOOTBALL WORLD

🇪🇸 La Liga: Atlético Madrid have signed striker Alexander Sørloth from Villareal as they also eye Manchester City’s Julian Alvarez (More)

🇺🇲 USWNT: Trinity Rodman’s extra-time stunner sends the United States women’s national team to the semi-finals at the Paris Olympics (More)

🇮🇹 Serie A Women: AC Milan have become the first side among the elite European clubs to introduce an innovative maternity policy for its female players and staff (More)

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Premier League: West Ham complete the signing of Crysencio Summerville, 22, from Leeds for £25mn plus add-ons (More)

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scottish Championship: Raith Rovers have surprisingly sacked manager Ian Murray just one game into the new Scottish Championship season, and two months after he guided the club to the play-off final (More)

OFF THE PITCH

🎾 Novak Djokovic wins Olympic Gold after beating Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s single’s final (More)

💍 Chinese Olympic badminton player Liu Yuchen proposes to his girlfriend Huang Ya Qiong after she wins Gold (More)

🏅Simeone Biles wins her seventh Olympic Gold in vault (More)

💪 Michele Kang, owner of three football clubs, announces a £50mn global investment in improving the health of elite female athletes (More)

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Homeless World Cup. FIFA has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Homeless World Cup Foundation, an organisation that arranges annual women’s and men’s tournaments to inspire homeless people to change their lives. For the first time, FIFA will broadcast the event on FIFA+ and supply equipment including medals and trophies. The next edition of the Homeless World Cup will take place in Seoul, Korea Republic, from 21 to 28 September 2024. Read more here.

ROUTER’S VOICE

On Friday, we asked you: Do you think preseason is a good indicator for how well your club will perform during the season?

Routers voted that preseason is not a good indicator of how well a team will perform in the upcoming season. 

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 👏 Absolutely... (7%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 😤 Not a chance... (88%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ✍️ Other (write in!)... (4%)

Your punditry takes:

• 😤 Tyler from Asheville voted ‘Not a chance’: “It's an annual roller coaster ride when it comes to preseason. You can't possibly pin your hopes on those performances. Some players take it seriously, others not even close (remember Balotelli's ridiculous spin-and-shoot in NYC?). Preseason matches are the equivalent of the MLS All-Star game–everyone's there to have a good time and try not to get injured before the real season starts.”

• 😤 Mickey voted ‘Not a chance’: “I used to think it did but Liverpool had a terrible pre-season in 2019, lost as many games as they won, but still won the Premier League by 18 points. It's more about fitness than anything else.”

• ✍️ S Track voted ‘Other’: “Preseason is a time to play different combinations and experiment. It should be used for training, fitness and team bonding first, winning second.”

EXTRA TIME

Players clash as France edge out Argentina in the Olympic quarter-final.

2024 Puskas award contender.

Highest scoring matches in English Football League history.

A very confusing celebration that we still can’t explain.

Jermaine Jenas keeps saying he’s ‘securing the coin’.

Most trophies won since 2000 by José Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola.

The best reason we’ve heard to support Newcastle United.

Trent Alexander-Arnold climbs in Barbados to impress new girlfriend.

Atlético Madrid announce Robin Le Normand by having him play the piano.

Motoball is full-contact soccer on motorbikes…

Throwback: Ronaldinho assisting Vinicius Jr in a charity match.

GAME FACE ON

Question: Which Chelsea legend is the only player to be sent off in the World Cup finals on his birthday?

Clue: He played with Diego Maradona.

Scroll below for the answer.

ON TODAY

FOOTBALL

Olympic Men’s Semi-Final

• Morocco vs Spain (17:00 BST)

• France vs Egypt (20:00 BST)

Scottish Premiership

• St. Johnstone vs Aberdeen (20:00 BST)

English FA Cup

• Redbridge vs Great Wakering (19:45 BST)

• Biggleswade vs Stansted (19:45 BST)

Irish Premier League

• Shelbourne vs Derry (19:45 BST)

Danish Superligaen

• Vejle vs Nordsjælland (18:00 BST)

*EST -5. PST -8. CET +1. CST +8. JST +9.

Answer

Gianfranco Zola. The Italian made his World Cup debut as a substitute against Nigeria in 1994 on the day of his birthday and the referee decided to give him a gift – a red card.

The 10-minute cameo Zola played against Nigeria was his only appearance in the World Cup as he was not played in any of the remaining matches, and he was not picked for the 1998 World Cup either.