Give set-piece a chance, Ange.

Hope you had a good weekend…10 things from the weekend to reflect on

1 Give set-piece a chance. Come on, Ange. Do the maths. Three of the last four goals Spurs have shipped to Arsenal have come from set-pieces. In the last 42 games, comprising this season and last, Spurs have conceded 18 times from set-pieces (excluding pens). Postecoglu is a breath of fresh air in English football with his honesty and attacking football but the “finer details”, as he rather dismissively terms set-pieces, matter. They have to work on them, attacking and defending. It’s what big clubs do. Postecoglou’s stubbornness is costing Spurs.

Ange Postecoglou. Photo: James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images

2.Yes, Nuno. There’s a lot more love now for Nuno Espirito Santo amongst the Nottingham Forest faithful, who had felt they were almost being disloyal to Steve Cooper by backing his successor. I’ve always liked the quirky Nuno, ever since he veered off-topic during an interview to explain to me how to kill boa constrictors (always good to be prepared). He’s also a good manager. Nuno has now proved himself through a trying season of refereeing controversies and points deduction. He’s shown he can organise a team and improve players. Nuno’s subs at Liverpool were bold. Instead of closing the game down and holding on to a point, Nuno opened up and sent on Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi. Nuno’s ambition secured the result of the season to date.

3.See you later, Regulator? No chance. The Independent Football Regulator is coming, is already recruiting, and is needed because some owners simply cannot be trusted. Fans need a friend who carries a big stick. A savvy KC as regulator will provide that. All the alarming rhetoric about Uefa taking the 2028 Euros away from England simply will not become reality. Uefa privately acknowledge as much. Anyway, all countries have some form of state involvement. How else do tournaments get funded? £161m of public funds went into the new Wembley. It’s about ensuring the fine line is not crossed from involvement to interference. The Government would be doing the game, and fans, a disservice if not supportive of a regulator. Just as they, and the fans, stood up to the European Super League plotters. If they hadn’t done and threaten “a legislative bomb” on the English breakaway club, Uefa wouldn’t have a Champions League starting this week.

4.Left field day. Harvey Barnes, Newcastle’s match-winner, again highlights the extraordinary depth of talented English left-sided attackers: Grealish, Gordon, Rashford, Foden and Eze with Rogers sure to step up from the Under-21s at some point. Barnes has the ability but faces so much competition to add to his solitary England cap, not least from his outstanding club-mate Gordon. Such is England’s urgent need for a left-footed left-back that the chances are that Lewis Hall will be summoned from St James’ Park first.

5.Forest’s full-backs. Some smart performances and recruitment going on here. This was a big challenge against in-form Liverpool with their threat out wide, requiring total concentration. Alex Moreno, on loan from Aston Villa, kept Mo Salah quiet. Ola Aina, a free from Torino last year, did the same against Luis Diaz. Along with the Saliba-Gabriel duo, Aina and Moreno were the defenders of the weekend.

6.Covid cost. The cost of the pandemic was unimaginable in human terms, which always remains foremost in our thoughts. But the financial cost also needs reflecting on. I am indebted to Swiss Ramble’s remarkable work in examining club accounts, and particularly the latest from Manchester United. SR notes how “badly impacted” United were by Covid because games behind closed doors “hit United particularly hard, due to their high match day income and lost commercial opportunities”. United “advised that it had lost an incredible £247m of revenue due to COVID, which I estimate was split between match day £138m, commercial £40m and broadcasting £22m”. United were one of the first clubs to prepare for the incoming Covid, apparently through commercial contacts in China, according to a club source. United quickly provided equipment to players in the first-team squad and also academy players to keep them fit during lockdown. But nothing could prepare anyone for the human cost of Covid. Or financial.

7.Jadon not jaded. Good to see Sancho back playing again, creating again, and with a smile on his face. Coming on for Chelsea at Bournemouth, his first touch was a neat ball to Cucurella, then a pass to Jackson, then linking with Cucurella again before creating Nkunku’s winner. Colwill and Joao Felix were first to Sancho to congratulate him, knowing his difficulties at Manchester United. The 24-year-old has been through a lot, some of it self-inflicted, but can now re-launch his career at Chelsea. He deserves a start as well as the restart.

8.Commission mission. Finally, hallelujah, the hearing into Manchester City’s 115 alleged breaches of financial rules starts today. City vigorously deny all charges, including 14 counts of a “failure to provide accurate details for player and manager payments from 2009-10 to 2017-18”. While mindful and respectful of players’ and managers’ right to privacy of wages, the commission generally needs to be as transparent as possible. Otherwise the verdict, either way, will lack credibility. The case has caused so much damage to English football, triggering a civil war and shifting the focus away from the dressing-room to the court-room, that City, the Premier League and the Commission owe it to supporters to be open.

9. Toffees come unstuck. Bottom of the table with 13 goals conceded in four games, Everton urgently need Jarrad Branthwaite back. The tall left-sided defender is back on the grass training after groin surgery. He cannot return soon enough to bring more pace and better  positioning and anticipation to that porous back-line. Relegation would be calamitous. Having the best stadium in the Championship would be no consolation.

10.Gary Shaw. Devastating news from Aston Villa that their legendary player has passed away, aged 63. “Gary was one of our own, a talented striker who delighted supporters with his goalscoring exploits which helped fire Villa to success in the 1980s,” a club statement read. “Individual accolades would also follow for a player who was idolised by many on the terraces.” Not only was the buccaneering, tireless Shaw a joy to watch but he was a winner, a European champion no less, and also one of the most likeable characters you could encounter in the Villa Park press-room. Condolences to Gary’s family and friends. RIP.