Didi Hamann Exclusive: Why Arsenal Fans Should Be Scared of Another Failed Title Bid

Premier League midfield hero Didi Hamann has named Jude Bellingham as the player who can be Michael Carrick’s very own Eric Cantona figure at Manchester United if the England star leaves Real Madrid.

Speaking exclusively to CasinoBeats on the day of Liverpool’s Champions League clash with Azerbaijan’s Qarabag, Hamann explained why the once-unthinkable idea of Arne Slot moving on this year could become a real possibility.

The former Bayern Munich, Manchester City, and Newcastle United midfielder also gave his thoughts on Eddie Howe leaving the North East to replace Carrick at Old Trafford in the summer, and suggested Harry Maguire could even be an option for Liverpool.

Read the full interview below.

Didi Hamann Talks All Things Football

Q: What now for Arne Slot and Liverpool after that shock loss to Bournemouth?

Obviously, the situation is not good. It’s not healthy. The team hasn’t been playing well all season. They had a bit of a comeback in recent weeks, winning a few games, but they’re huffing and puffing. I think they don’t look like a team that can win four, five, or six games in a row, and they’ve got to fight on their hands to finish in the top four.

Top five might be enough because I think England will probably get another spot through the UEFA coefficient, but even fifth is not guaranteed. They’re behind Chelsea and Manchester United. I don’t think they’ll catch Chelsea, even though they’re only a point behind, so they probably have to catch United to get in the Champions League, and it would be disastrous after winning the league, spending all their money in the summer, to finish outside the top five.

But at the moment, if you asked me now whether Liverpool will finish in the top five, I’d probably go no.

Q: Jamie Carragher has said that if Liverpool’s Champions League qualification is under threat, they are going to need to change managers. Do they have to move fast to bring in Xabi Alonso before another club signs him up?

Xabi Alonso has got a special relationship with Liverpool, and he’s only just been sacked by Real Madrid. I’m not sure he wants to jump straight into the next job.

If Alonso contemplates coming to Liverpool, I think he’d prefer to come in the summer. I don’t think there’ll be an issue there.

For Slot, once the reports are out there that talks with Alonso are happening, it’s obviously not good for him. The whole club seems to be a bit disillusioned to me. How much is it his fault? I do not know, but I think it’s a situation that isn’t sustainable for long.

Liverpool want to achieve things. They spent all that money. They won the league. Everybody was hoping they would give it a good go again to win the Premier League and maybe win the Champions League, but at the moment they probably only have a good chance to finish in the top four or five.

The team lacks physicality and is not suited to the Premier League. I think that’s been shown because some of the best performances have been in the Champions League. I still think that they are a runner in the Champions League, but as I said, the situation with the manager is one we will have to wait on to see what happens in the next few weeks.

At the moment, I think there’s a good chance that Liverpool will have a new manager next season.

Q: How do you think being sacked by Real Madrid will have affected Alonso?

I think Xabi Alonso will probably take a few weeks or months off. He played in Madrid. He still has a place there. I think this sacking is something that will take him a while to get over. So, I’m not sure whether we will see him in the summer. He might take a bit longer off.

There is no doubt he is still a very talented coach. He wouldn’t be the first one to fail at Madrid, so I don’t think his stock is any lower than it was. But I think he’ll take time now to think long and hard about the next step. Maybe he should have thought about the Madrid job a bit longer before taking it – assessing the situation, what he can do, and what he can’t do.

Obviously, there is talk about Arne Slot. You never know, things happen very quickly in football. If something were to happen with Slot come the summer, then it goes without question that Alonso would be one of the first names on the list.

Q: What will Alonso have learned from his time at Real Madrid to prepare himself for another big job in the future?

Well, you have to get the players on side. We saw that with what Hansi Flick did at Barcelona. When you go to these big clubs, it’s not all about tactics.

Of course, you need structure, discipline, and respect in your team. But I think you have to give them a certain amount of freedom as well. These are guys who have won everything for club and country. You have to respect that. This is maybe something he [Alonso] wasn’t prepared to do, and in the end, it cost him.

Q: Just how important is it that Arne Slot wins these next two home games against Newcastle United and Manchester City?

It’s huge. If you don’t win them, or even if you lose them both, they could be five, six or seven points behind the Champions League places with 13 of 12 games to go. It’s very hard, especially when you’ve got a team that can’t be trusted at the moment to make up that amount of points.

They are two huge games, not only for the club, but also for the manager, because you want to see progress. You want to see a reaction. You want to see that this team can compete with the best, and they haven’t really been doing that all season.

Q: Could Steven Gerrard come in mid-season and make the sort of impact Michael Carrick is having at Manchester United?

I don’t think it’s out of the question. Sometimes you have to think out of the box, and he’s not got a job at the moment.

The manager is under pressure. It can change on a daily or a weekly basis at Liverpool at the moment. If you had told me there is a chance that Slot won’t be there at the end of the season, at the start of the season, I would have said not in a million years. Now it’s come to a point where you go, well, actually, maybe it has to happen, which I didn’t think was possible. This just goes to show how quickly things can change in football.

I think Gerrard to Liverpool has got its charms, I have to say. It depends on what happens in the next few weeks.

Q: What did you make of Salah’s performance in his first Premier League start since November 22nd?

I think he did OK. The bottom line is that the team lost, and there was talk over whether Mohamed Salah is the problem.

Games have been lost when he was not there, when he was at the African Cup of Nations. I don’t think Salah is the problem. The question is, how much do they get out of him in the next 18 months for the length of his contract? That’s the decision they have to make.

I think it’s been clear that he’s not been the same player. It might have to do with the other forwards coming in. He may think that Florian Wirtz has taken a bit of the team’s focus away from him.

But you know, Salah has struggled to score goals from open play since last Christmas. He’s not been the same player for the last 12 months now, and at his age, he won’t become a better player now than what he was.

If he’s happy to accept that and be a player who might be on the bench every other week, then I haven’t got a problem with him staying because I still think in certain games he can give something to the team.

But he’s come out before he left and said that he’s done so much for the club, and he doesn’t understand why he doesn’t play. Well, we’ve got to fight our place every single day, and if he’s not prepared to do that, then I think it’s best for him to leave.

Q: Should Liverpool try and get maximum value from selling him in January or hold on to Salah?

Salah has a year left on his current deal. If there was a club coming in now, I don’t know what we would be talking about.

Are we talking about £30million? Are we talking about £50million? Are we talking £70million? £25million? You know, if it’s an amount of money where the club says yes, it has to be a value above what he can offer the team.

He’s got more value to Liverpool because potentially he could score one or two goals towards the end of the season, which gets them into the top five, and that obviously brings so much more revenue getting into the Champions League.

If it’s a substantial amount, I would think about it because there’s no guarantee it is going to get any better with Salah. At the same time, there’s no guarantee it will get any better without him.

If it was a substantial amount, I’d probably take it.

Q: Would Bayern Munich be an option for Mohamed Salah?

I think Munich is probably not an option because of Olise, who is playing on the right-hand side at the moment. He’s done ever so well, and Munich wants to extend his contract.

They also have Lennart Karl, a 17-year-old who has burst onto the scene in that position. So, I don’t think Munich is an option. But yes, continental Europe is less demanding and physical than the Premier League, so there might be an option for one of those teams to pick him up for one or two good years.

Q: What do you make of the idea that we are now seeing the true level of this Liverpool team after Mohamed Salah’s individual brilliance last season won them the title?

I think Liverpool were a very good team last season, and I think what they did was defend well.

Defensively, they were very solid, and I think what they understood is that they had to give Salah a certain amount of freedom for him to do what he does best, and they did that up until Christmas.

They had a healthy advantage going into the second half of the season, and it was a team where everybody knew their place. Now they brought in these superstars, but somebody still needs to do the work.

I think what the team understood last season was who needed to do the work and who could shine. Maybe sometimes Salah didn’t track back because if he gets 20 or 25 goals, you don’t want him to defend because he’s got to keep his energy and freshness for going the other way.

I think that’s what they understood this season. I think they’ve probably got too many big players where nobody wants to do the work, everybody wants to shine, and it’s clearly not working.

Salah played a big part. I think he probably stood out with the goals he scored, and quite a few penalties as well. I think he was the player who made the difference in a very functional, hardworking team.

Q: How much longer does Van Dijk have at the top level, given the mistakes he’s making this season?

I wouldn’t like to lose Virgil van Dijk as a leader. He’s come to an age now where I think you just have to accept the odd mistake. I think he’s been the heart of the team and really been the leader in the dressing room for the last eight or nine years.

At his age, obviously, you lose half a yard of pace, and in the Premier League, we know you can get punished pretty quickly. The other thing is that for a number of years now, he has been digging other players out, ironing out mistakes made by others.

Now when Van Dijk makes a mistake, there’s nobody else there, and I think it’s a combination of him losing half a yard of pace, making the odd mistake which he didn’t use to do, and nobody behind there to help him out as we are used to seeing him doing for other players.

With Salah, I probably tend towards him leaving the club because I think with all the unrest and what he’s said, people might think that words were said behind the scenes, and now it’s all good. I don’t think it can be as good as it was before.

With Van Dijk, I’d like to see him at the club next season because I think he’s the leader of the team. Even though he makes the odd mistake, I think he is still that leader.

Q: Will Marc Guehi end up regretting moving to Man City once all their first-choice defenders are fit again? Could Liverpool have given him a clear path to being first choice?

Obviously, Marc Guehi would have had the choice of a number of clubs. Bayern Munich were interested as well. He would have thought long and hard about it and what to do.

I think he’ll play at Manchester City. He’s shown he is probably the best English centre-back at the moment. He plays really well for the national team.

I heard that if Liverpool had paid a bit more in the summer, they could have had him, so maybe he thought that they had their chance to get him in the summer. Why should I join you now in the winter? Maybe he felt let down in a way. I don’t know. Maybe that was one of the reasons that affected his decision.

I think he will be a very good player for Manchester City, but then again, they brought in 12 or 13 new players for an awful lot of money in the last 12 or 18 months, and things are not really clicking for them either, although not as bad as Liverpool.

Will he regret moving to Manchester City? Probably not.

Q: If Liverpool do move for a centre-back in the summer, who should they look to sign?

Mickey van de Ven is doing really well for Spurs, and there’s a player at Dortmund, Nico Schlotterbeck. He’s in talks with the club on whether he’s going to extend his contract.

Schlotterbeck has really taken on a leading role at Dortmund in the last 18 months. He is probably our best centre-back in the national team. He’ll certainly play at the World Cup for Germany.

He’d be a player. He’s got one year left on the contract. I’m sure that Liverpool inquired about him. He wouldn’t be the worst choice. He’s a left-footed player as well.

He’s an excellent player. I know him from his time at Wolfsburg. He is one of the quickest players around, a very good defender, and he nicks a goal too.

There has been a lot of talk about Ibrahima Konate. Rumours of him going to Madrid. His form hasn’t been the best. Van Dijk is not getting any younger, even though he is still the heart of that Liverpool defence. But Van de Ven is certainly a player to watch because what they need at the back is pace. He has got it in abundance and is a very good defender, so he is certainly a player of interest for Liverpool

Q: Could we see Liverpool look at the free agents this summer, like John Stones or Harry Maguire?

You’ve got to give it to Harry Maguire because he got so much stick in the last few years, and he always comes back. If he’s available on a free, then obviously have to think about it because I think what Liverpool need is more depth at the back.

Joe Gomez has been around the squad for a long time, but he’s never really been a starter for the team. Connor Bradley is out now through injury. We’ll have to see how it affects him when he comes back.

I think Liverpool need depth in the right-back position too. Frimpong is not a right-back. I think he gets away with playing there sometimes, but he’s not a right-back. I think they need a couple of players at the back.

Q: If it doesn’t work out for Trent Alexander-Arnold at Real Madrid, could he return to Liverpool, given how sour his exit turned out to be?

I would take him back. Whether he would contemplate it, I’m not sure. He wasn’t best pleased with the way people reacted when he said he wanted to go to Madrid. I was at the game against Madrid and saw the reception he got when he came out, but things can change quickly in football.

It would take a lot of persuasion from Liverpool, I think. On his side, you don’t know what the reaction will be. But as a matter of fact, he was a tremendous player for the club, and he had the chance to go to Madrid. I never faulted him because the club could have extended his contract a year earlier had they paid him more money.

If he wants to do something new, then Real Madrid are one of the biggest, if not the biggest club in the world, so I would take Trent back. The fans probably see it differently, but I think he’s a strong boy. Stranger things have happened in football, so I wouldn’t rule it out.

Q: If not Liverpool, what club would fit Trent best?

A club like Bayern Munich is always interested in players of Trent’s quality because I think, without a question, he is probably one of the best passers England has seen in the last 10 or 15 years. Bayern would be on high alert if he were to become available.

If he came back to England, I’m sure that some of the London clubs would be interested in him. They always need good players.

Spurs need players who know what it’s like to win. I know they won a title last season, but they’ve been underperforming again by a way this season. I could well see Trent at a club like Spurs.

Q: What did you make of Lennart Karl’s comments about wanting to join Real Madrid?

Well, I think Real Madrid was always the ultimate club. Even in my time, the biggest clubs were probably Real Madrid and Manchester United.

But don’t forget, Karl had a trial there; he spent a few days or a week training with Real Madrid when he was 10 or 11. I think he was given a shirt and obviously never forgot that.

I wouldn’t read too much into it. As a young kid, maybe he could have worded it differently. If he had said, “When I was small, my dream was to play for Real Madrid,” maybe there wouldn’t have been such a backlash. But he was asked a question and said his dream is to play for Real Madrid. He is only 17.

I know the fans in Munich didn’t take it too well, but I think it’s something you have to accept. When a 17-year-old gives an honest answer – which is what we always ask for – I wouldn’t hold it against him.

Q: If you had to pick one as Liverpool’s next big signing in midfield, would you want Jude Bellingham or Bruno Guimaraes at Liverpool?

It certainly wouldn’t be Jude Bellingham because I think Liverpool have already got too many players as it is going forward, and too many big-time players. Bruno Guimaraes would be better for Liverpool. It wouldn’t even be a question for me because he is a battler, a fighter, a warrior. I think that’s what Liverpool need.

Gravenberch did so well last season, but can’t do it all on his own. Mac Allister is in and out. He doesn’t really do enough going backwards. He does enough going forward. He’s a good player to have around, but I think Newcastle have got a player who can do it all in Bruno Guimaraes. He leads from the front.

Q: Can you see Bruno Guimaraes leaving Newcastle, or is he too in love with the club and the fans to seek a move away?

That’s a question only he can answer and a decision he will have to make. Without a question, the best players want to play in the Champions League. Money is important too, but it’s not the deciding factor. He will be getting paid well up in the North East. But the Champions League is the trophy, along with the World Cup, that all players want to win.

If you’re not in the Champions League, you can’t win it, and every single Champions League club in England would be interested in Bruno Guimaraes if he decides that he can see himself elsewhere. The two Spanish giants would be interested too.

Before he left, Xabi Alonso made it clear that Real Madrid need a midfielder who can be a ball-winner, even though they’ve got Tchouameni and Camavinga there. I thought they were the two best players in their position, but obviously, things are not really working out for them.

I think Bruno can pretty much pick his club depending on how much Newcastle would want for him, but he seems to be very settled in the North East. I wouldn’t be surprised if he plays at least one more season or even a couple more seasons at Newcastle, even if they don’t get into the Champions League.

Q: Given that Hugo Ekitke has exceeded expectations, do you think Liverpool would consider an offer from Barcelona for Alexander Isak if they wanted him in the summer?

At the moment, Ekitike is the main man, and if you’re struggling, obviously, the last thing you want to do is lose the players who actually perform for you, and that’s been Ekitike and Szoboszlai. They are the two Liverpool players who will come out of this season with some credit.

You don’t want to lose Ekitike. If Liverpool want to cut their losses, it goes without saying that it will be Isak who has to be moved on.

He’s got a bit of an injury record. Whether that might pull a few people off, because obviously they paid an awful lot of money in the summer, and Liverpool probably want to recoup most of it, but I think it’s clear that if you talk about the season so far, Ekitike looks set to be the boss of that centre-forward position.

Ekitike has been more efficient; he’s been playing a lot better than Isak, who came to Liverpool not being fit, and now he’s picked up an injury. It’s been stop-start for him. Maybe he comes good in the Champions League in the business end of the season, but you’ve got to say that Ekitike is quite some way ahead of Isak at the moment.

Q: Do Liverpool need to be worried about keeping Ekitike and Szoboszlai if they fall off from being a club that can guarantee Champions League football?

Dominik Szoboszlai seems very settled. You have to say, if you look at the team over the last six months, he and Ekitike are probably the two players who came out with the most credit. Whenever the chips were down, you could rely on them.

Obviously, if Liverpool weren’t to qualify for the Champions League – though I think England will have five places again, so they should finish in the top five – if they don’t, there is always a chance players will say, I want to play in the Champions League. But that is a long way away. However, the way he has played so far, and also last season, you have to say there will be interest because he has been outstanding in any position he has played.

Q: Can Liverpool win the Champions League this season despite their issues in the Premier League?

I think they’ve got a chance. Look at Real Madrid – people talk about the turmoil at the club, but in a one-off game or over two legs, you still have to beat them. The benchmark at the moment is probably Arsenal and Bayern Munich, who are doing really well. But if Bayern Munich played Liverpool tomorrow over two legs, I think it’s a 50-50 game.

So, Liverpool have a chance. However, I don’t think they can or should concentrate solely on the Champions League because we know how important that Premier League income is.

They have to put their best foot forward in the league to secure a top-four or top-five finish. Then, come March or April, you might be in a position to keep one and a half eyes on the Champions League. Right now, it’s too early, but for all the bad games they’ve played in this very disappointing season, I wouldn’t rule them out for the Champions League.

Q: Will Liverpool and Newcastle look at each other’s poor form of late and both think this could be the fixture to get their seasons back on track?

I think both clubs will see it similarly, thinking it’s probably a good time to play these, and it’s a fixture that has always made for some fantastic viewing because they tend to be games with a lot of entertainment when these two clubs play each other.

It was a classic in the first half of the season when Newcastle came back despite being a man down to equalise, and then the young lad Rio Ngumoha got the late winner. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen an awful lot from that young kid since, but it’ll be another classic, and there’ll be goals.

It’ll be an entertaining game between two teams who are struggling at the moment, and they both probably need to win the game. I think that could make it a fantastic game to watch.

Q: Eddie Howe has been linked with the Manchester United job. Would that be another bitter exit like Isak? If it came off, that would derail Howe, United, and Newcastle?

Eddie Howe has been there a few years now, and he doesn’t strike me as wanting out of Newcastle at the moment.

A lot of money came into the club with the Saudis and I think they’ve spent it pretty wisely, but I think the expectations in Newcastle are now that they should be a club that finishes in the Champions League spots every season, and there’s doubts again on whether they’re going to make it.

They’re pretty close, but the top three seems to be out of reach, so you’ve got 17 teams, and you’ve got to finish in the top ahead of Manchester United, Chelsea, and Liverpool, and that won’t be easy.

If they don’t finish in the Champions League spots this season, there’s a chance he thinks about moving on to a club like Manchester United, but I think he seems very settled, and I still think they’ve got a very good chance of finishing in the top five.

Q: Do you think Eddie Howe would have what it takes to be a Manchester United manager, or does he still need time to develop as a true top-level manager?

Manchester United need someone who is pragmatic, calm, and seems at ease with themselves, and somebody who’s got a certain authority to them. Eddie Howe ticks all those boxes.

Some of the best managers came into Manchester United after Ferguson, and they all failed, so you could say it’s got nothing to do with the manager and it’s the club, the structure, the board, and the way things are done that is the problem.

It’s a very complex situation at Manchester United with the owners. But, you know, if he got the full backing of the club, I think they could do a lot worse than looking at Eddie Howe because I think he’s shown at Bournemouth and now at Newcastle that he can work with top players.

Q: Arsenal fans are extremely nervous that their team are going to bottle another title race now. Are they right to be?

Are Arsenal fans right to be scared that their team are going to fall short again? Yes.

They’ve finished second for the last three years and they want to win the Premier League, and this year, you’ve got a situation where everybody thought Liverpool would be very hard to beat with the signings they made, but it hasn’t turned out that way, so Liverpool are out of the equation. All you have to beat is Manchester City, even though I wouldn’t rule Aston Villa out who are only four points off.

But Arsenal just missed a golden opportunity against what had been a struggling side who just lost their manager to go seven points clear, and I think what’s also on their minds is that the football, apart from a few games where they’ve been brilliant, has not been good.

They’ve struggled to score goals from open play. They score a lot of goals from set pieces. They are over halfway into the season, and I think the Arsenal fans and the Arsenal players are beginning to realise they’ve got something to lose now.

When you start the season, you say to yourself get into the position, come February or come March, where you have a chance to win the league. Arsenal had been clear by some way throughout the last few weeks. It turned out Liverpool were not contenders this year. United are not contenders. Chelsea, who I thought might be there, are not contenders.

So they were ahead for most of the season, and now I think they sense what’s at stake and the mind is a tricky thing. Given the way they’ve been playing, maybe they think about this too. They’re still in pole position. They’re still the strong favourites to win the Premier League in my view. But they probably have to start playing better at some stage to win it.

Q: When Arsenal beat Bayern, Vincent Kompany said his goal was to make sure his team are the best come the end of the season and not the best in November. Have Arsenal peaked too soon?

It is funny that Vinny said that because you could make the point about Bayern Munich too right now, because they lost their first game this weekend, but he’s right.

When Bayern Munich played Paris Saint-Germain, they really wanted to show the world they had what it takes in order to be taken seriously in the Champions League. I had the same feeling when Arsenal played Bayern because Bayern had beaten Arsenal quite a few times over the past few years. If Arsenal beat Bayern, everybody will take them seriously, and I think they invested an awful lot into their game against Bayern.

Kompany is correct. Titles are won in March, April, and May. You want your best players fit for then. The Champions League has now started up again. We will know come Wednesday or Thursday who is getting into the top eight and who is going through into the playoffs.

Kai Havertz is out again. I don’t think he’s been available for most of the season, but they haven’t really got too many other injuries, and that’s the thing with Arsenal. If you look at the team, they’ve got both their centre-backs playing, in midfield, they haven’t got too many injuries at the moment. It’s pretty surprising that they lost to Manchester United, especially the way they did, too.

Q: Arsenal hadn’t conceded three goals in 120 games home and away prior to that United loss. Was it a bad day at the office or is there something more troubling going on?

I always said they needed a centre-forward. Somebody who knows, when you go down to the last 10 minutes, you can mix it up, you put somebody up top, you’ve got an aerial threat, and you occupy defenders because with a bit of a physical presence, you will create space for the wingers like Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli. If you give those wingers a bit of space, they’re almost unstoppable.

I still feel Arsenal need somebody. I feel at the moment, even though Viktor Gyokeres didn’t start at the weekend, I don’t think he’s one of the top strikers in Europe. I think he’s a goal scorer, but then again, I don’t think a goal scorer against the best teams is enough because I don’t think he will get into positions where he can score.

They brought Gyokeres in as the centre-forward, but I don’t think he’s good enough. Whether that will be the deciding factor in the end I don’t know but at the moment, it certainly didn’t help Arsenal.

I thought last season everybody was having a go at Darwin Nunez, but I thought Nunez would have been tailor-made for Arsenal, a team that creates many chances. For all his faults and for all his easy chances he missed, Nunez always occupied two or three defenders with his physicality and his pace. If he could finish, he’d probably be the best player in the world. But I think for Arsenal, he would have been a much better fit than Gyokeres.

We saw Gyokeres at a few clubs before Sporting, and I’m just not sure whether he’s got the ability to play against the best defenders in Europe and in the Premier League. It takes something more to even get into positions where you can finish against players like this, and obviously, you have to finish chances too. It’s a very physical game, and sometimes it can wear you out.

If you do get a chance after 70 or 75 minutes, maybe you lack that bit of energy and concentration, and you miss it. In Portugal, he didn’t have to do too much work going backwards, and maybe that could have saved him. Not every challenge was a full-on challenge.

Sometimes we have to give players a bit of time because it’s a difficult game, but I’m not sure he’s got what it takes to lead the line for a club like Arsenal and take them to the title in all honesty.

Q: Does Manchester United’s win over Arsenal put Manchester City in the driving seat, given how Pep Guardiola’s side have been capable of putting together a run that Arsenal couldn’t live with in previous years?

Manchester City are still four points behind, and even at home at the Etihad, I think there’s a case to be made that it could maybe suit Arsenal more with their quick players playing away.

They can let Manchester City have the ball and challenge them to try and break them down, because defence is Arsenal’s biggest strength. When it comes to City vs Arsenal, I wouldn’t make City huge favourites at all.

Don’t rule out Aston Villa. If two dogs are fighting for something, sometimes the third one can come in and nick it, and can I see City winning the amount of games they will need to win? It’s only four points, so within two games potentially, and they could be top of the league, but I can’t really see them winning five, six, or seven on the spin like they did in recent years.

I think there was a year where Arsenal, City, and Liverpool won the last 10 games or something, and Liverpool finished second on 99, and I can’t see that. They don’t have to win all the games to win the league, but I’m not sure they have got it in them like yesterday.

They’ve brought in some talented players, but I think in the past, when they brought players in to kind of keep what they’ve got and fill in when somebody was injured, but now I think they needed to bring players in to make the team better. It’s all got to gel together.

Marmoush came in and did well, scored a hat-trick, and he’s not been seen since. That’s the case at City sometimes. It happened to Grealish. It happened to Kalvin Phillips. I’m not sure they have what it takes to do it this year.

Q: How much more time will Mikel Arteta get as Arsenal manager if they don’t get over the line this year?

If Mikel Arteta doesn’t win the Premier League or the Champions League this season, I think there will be serious questions asked.

There are times where you just have to take your hat off. You finish second 93 points, 95 points, 98 points, and you just got beaten by the better team. You won’t need a points total like that to win the Premier League this season.

Arsenal are in a strong position and have been throughout the season, but you just get the feeling that if they don’t win it this year, they probably won’t win it for the next three, four or five years because you won’t get a better chance.

City will probably have a new manager next season. Chelsea, at some stage, will fight for the title again. Liverpool will be there. United will come back at some stage. When you get a chance in football, you have to take it. If you don’t take it, it may not come back again.

This is a feeling I get. This is probably the feeling that the fans have at the moment, too. I don’t think there’s any guarantee that Mikel Arteta be there next season if he doesn’t win the Premier League or the Champions League.

Q: Could it be between Mikel Arteta and Xabi Alonso for the Manchester City job in the summer?

I’m not sure Manchester City would want the manager that finished second four times in a row if Arsenal were to finish second again, because it’s a club that’s all about winning.

Xabi Alonso, with his Liverpool history, so will he contemplate joining City? I do not know.

There was talk about Enzo Maresca. I think that’s cooled down a bit after he’s been let go by Chelsea.

Could Alonso move to City to prepare to take the Liverpool job in the future? I wouldn’t call City a stepping stone. They’ve been too successful and more successful than Liverpool, too, in the last 10 years. They’ve obviously spent quite a few quid as well.

I’m not saying that if Alonso joined City, we wouldn’t see him at Liverpool, but I think with his ties to Liverpool, and the talk of him coming to Munich last summer, he’s got a pretty close bond to the clubs he played for. He played for three giants in Madrid, Munich, and Liverpool. I’d be surprised if we see Alonso at another English club other than Liverpool.

Luis Enrique has done a wonderful job at Paris Saint-Germain. Vincent Kompany is doing a very good job at Bayern Munich. They extended his contract because there was talk within the club they were a bit scared of losing him if Guardiola leaves City at the end of the season. Kompany might still leave, of course. I’m not saying he won’t go to City, but if he hasn’t got a clause in his contract, it’ll cost City quite some money to get him out of Munich.

Kompany will certainly be on the list. Luis Enrique will be on the list. Maresca will be on the list. And probably Alonso as well. Then maybe one or two others we are not thinking about yet. But I’m sure that Manchester City will be prepared come the day when Pep says I’ve had it.

Q: What have you made of the impact of Michael Carrick at Manchester United so far?

I think there’s always a bit of luck involved because we’ve seen some of the best managers in the world come to United. We saw it at Everton as well when Carlo Ancelotti was there. It didn’t work out. There are no guarantees. There would be no guarantee if Xabi Alonso came to United or Luis Enrique.

At the same time, there’s no guarantee it gets better if Carrick stays. I think you need a bit of luck. You need to get a good feeling in the club. You need to understand what the players need and maybe what the fans want as well. Not to let anybody else other than yourself make that decision, but you have to sense the feeling because I think that’s what is needed at Manchester United.

The fans and the punters need to enjoy going to Old Trafford again because I don’t think that’s been the case for a long time now. I think the whole club is disillusioned, and you need somebody who brings a bit of a spark, brings everyone together, and gets the backing of the whole club so they think we’ve got a chance with this guy.

Whoever that may be, I do not know, but what I would say is Carrick has done ever so well. To win those two games, to go to Arsenal and score three goals against them, the first time they’ve conceded three in 120 games, that is sensational. But it’s a lot easier being the interim. You’ve got nothing to lose. You can go in there and say come on, lads. We’ve got to be better than this. You’ve got the opportunity to play for one of the biggest clubs in the world. Go out there and do it.

At the moment, they do it. If you’re the permanent manager, you’ve got something to lose because if you lose five games in a row, you’re gone. That’s the only thing I would say. I wouldn’t get carried away with it. I know Carrick from playing against him, and I didn’t live too far from him. He is a very smart, intelligent young man. A brilliant player. Underrated, even. But it’s different being the interim to being the permanent manager. You have to bear that in mind.

Q: Is how Carrick coaches United to beat teams who aren’t their big rivals that they can hit on the counter-attack the true test of whether he has what it takes to keep the job?

It certainly wouldn’t do him any harm. You’ve got to win games. It doesn’t matter how you play. People said Ole Gunnar Solskjaer always played on the counter, but it depends on what players you have got.

If you haven’t got players who are technically good enough to play out from the back and control games with the ball, it doesn’t make sense trying to do that because it’s about winning games. Manchester United haven’t won enough games over the last 10 years.

Carrick has always been a player who liked to be in possession, and that’s what he tried to bring to Middlesbrough. It didn’t really work out that way, but he will do that at Manchester United, and if he manages to improve them in that department, I think it only enhances his chances.

Manchester United fans had been spoiled for 25 years. Not so much in the last decade. They always had fantastic players and watched fantastic football. If Carrick manages to bring even half of that back, maybe he can keep the job permanently.

Q: If Jude Bellingham were to leave Real Madrid, which club would be the best fit for him?

I’ve never been the biggest fan of Jude Bellingham. I think he’s an exceptional player. Some of his antics I’ve never really been keen on. But I think what it does bring to a club, I think the signing of Bellingham can galvanise a club. Yeah. It gives punters hope. It gives everybody hope. It probably brings more out of the other players because they look around and think, we’ve got Bellingham here now, we’ve got to put our foot down.

There’s only one club really I could think of, but then again, it might be the perfect fit, and that’s Manchester United, because they need a player like that now. They have Matheus Cunha. They have Benjamin Sesko. These are good players, but they’re not the names that United fans are used to from the past, like Ruud van Nistelrooy, Roy Keane, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, or Eric Cantona.

Q: Is Harry Kane a player that goes missing when Bayern Munich need him most, and should that concern England fans ahead of the World Cup this summer?

Is it a fair criticism of Harry Kane that he goes missing and doesn’t score in finals? Yes, and I think for England as well when he’s scored goals, he’s scored penalties, and he’s missed one as well. Obviously, we will find out now the truth about Kane in these moments.

I’ve always been critical because he scores a lot of goals in Germany, but any centre-forward would score goals for Bayern Munich. There hasn’t been one that failed to do so. But what I would say, leading up to the World Cup, is that in the Euros two years ago, England improved and turned games around when Kane left the pitch.

He really struggled at the last Euros, and now he’s two years older again. I don’t know how many of England’s games will be played outdoors, but it could be 35 or 38 degrees or more out in America.

Thomas Tuchel won’t drop Kane because Tuchel was a big reason as to why Bayern Munich signed Kane. They’ve got a very close relationship. But I don’t think England should go into the tournament saying Kane is our number nine and he will stay our number nine. England have got Ollie Watkins. He’s a player who changed games for England at the Euros.

Is Kane a concern for Bayern? We’ll find out. They got beat by Inter last season in the quarter-finals of the Champions League when they probably should have gone through. We’ll find out in the next few weeks.

Q: Have Arsenal repeated a similar mistake by signing Viktor Gyokeres instead of Ollie Watkins?

Absolutely. I think England, too, can be a better team with Watkins.

Q: With Wrexham creeping into the playoff spots in the Championship, do they have to treat this as their big chance to get into the Premier League and make some big January signings to get themselves over the line?

I don’t think they can finish in the top two. They are too far away, and they’re only sixth, so there’s no guarantee they’ll make the playoffs either, but you never know when you might get this chance again. This might be the season you do get into the playoffs.

They have to be looking at who they can add to make it more of a certainty. Kieffer Moore is scoring. If somebody could come in to help take some of the weight off his shoulders, that would certainly enhance their chances of getting into the playoffs.

Once they do get into the Premier League, I don’t think they will have too many issues attracting players. We’ve seen Brentford, Bournemouth, and Brighton break into the Premier League, and there’s no reason why Wrexham can’t do it too, and I think they’ll have even more pull than those clubs, too, because of the owners. They mean business.

Players want to be part of it, and I don’t think they will have any issues getting players if they were to look at the market in January.

Q: If Kane were to leave Bayern Munich, who would be the best fit to allow him to topple Alan Shearer’s records?

Kane left England, and I can’t really see him returning after just two years because he’s maybe not as sharp as he was two years ago. I’m not sure whether England is an option for him. I’d be very surprised because he seems to be settled here in Germany. Bayern Munich want to extend his contract. I think he’ll be staying here a little bit longer.

If Kane were to go back, it would be whether Spurs wanted him back. That would be my first guess. My second guess would be Manchester United.

What a story that would be if Kane and Bellingham come back to England to play for Manchester United, and it would make the most sense for it to be United.

Chelsea have got good players in those positions. Liverpool have, too. City,  I don’t think that’s an option.

The real question will be, does Kane and his family want to go and live in the north? He’s a London boy. I think it’ll be tricky.

If you ask me now, I don’t think he’ll ever play in the Premier League again.