Mikel Arteta's job title changes at Arsenal, not the announcement fans wanted - The Warm-Up

After months of will he, won’t he, when will he, please say he will, David Ornstein got tongues wagging on Thursday morning when declaring Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will finally end the speculation by signing a new three-year contract with the club.

And then, on Thursday night. Ping. Another notification. Another Arsenal tweet. Surely this must be it. All afternoon it was post after post flogging the third kit, but now, finally, this must be the Auba video we’ve been waiting for.

Not quite.

Instead it was an announcement that Mikel Arteta’s job title has changed from head coach to first-team manager.

Sure enough it got 4.5k RTs and almost 17k likes within the first hour, and even had ‘My Manager’ trending, but it was hardly the reveal Arsenal fans were after.

Nevertheless, there were some hailing its significance, ‘Not since Wenger’ and all that, while others replied, “no one cares lol get some midfielders how about that”, and, rather poetically – “What does that even mean though lmao”.

And @AFCMax9 is right, to be fair. What does it even mean? (Lmao). Clubs are often careful with their titles but few outside of that circle really care. Supporters and pundits alike often incorrectly attribute or flip between manager and head coach, the Premier League’s own website doesn’t care enough and simply lists all 20 as managers, while in the Warm-Up’s very own industry most journalists normally just give up and go with boss. Shorter, sharper, simpler.

Of course the title change signals a greater input in the behind-the-scenes running of the club, but you need only look over at Tottenham and Jose Mourinho to understand the name means (All or) Nothing. It is in the person’s nature whether they want to assume more responsibilities than being simply head coach, a title Mourinho holds but one he clearly does not stick to. Proof the title is rather insignificant after all, to the Jens Lehmann at least, especially given Jose has officially been manager elsewhere before.

Thankfully there was some Ligue 1 action on Thursday night given the dearth of football we’ve had recently. What was it, a whole 24 hours without?

Though to be fair it did throw up a crazy/funny/shocking [delete as appropriate or keep all three] result as champions Paris Saint-Germain lost 1-0 at newly-promoted Lens.

Granted this was a PSG side without Neymar (coronavirus), Kylian Mbappe (coronavirus), Keylor Navas (coronavirus), Mauro Icardi (coronavirus), Angel Di Maria (coronavirus), Leandro Paredes (coronavirus) and Marquinhos (coronavirus), but still it goes down as a surprise.

In their absence due to Covid-19 it was a pretty make-shift side, with Thilo Kehrer, Presnel Kimpembe, Juan Bernat and Ander Herrera the only four starters who also made the starting XI in the Champions League final three weeks ago.

It was a reminder of what impact the coronavirus could yet have on the upcoming campaign having ravaged the previous one, while it will also have clubs adding extra layers to the bubble in a bid to prevent these early incidents becoming a regular occurrence throughout the season.

Once players are back from holiday, the cotton wool will be out. Make no mistake about that.

At last, not even seven weeks after Manchester United and Chelsea sealed Champions League football and Aston Villa secured survival – we go again.

Amid the lingering threat of a global pandemic back on the rise the Premier League will once more prove to be the distraction, and even though the last season only finished yesterday there is plenty to get excited about this 2020-21 season.

Marcelo Bielsa, for one. Leeds in general, really. Then there’s Manchester City looking to usurp Liverpool. Chelsea looking to beat them both with a flurry of quality signings. Then there’s Manchester United with, well, Donny van de Beek so far as they look to mount a title challenge. There’s a new-look Arsenal defence. Some very Jose Mourinho signings at Tottenham. James Rodriguez in an Everton shirt. There’s Leicester and Sheffield United aiming to better last season’s finishes. Newcastle with a proven Premier League striker. Aston Villa with a proven Championship striker. Civil unrest at West Ham. Wilfried Zaha still at Palace. We could go on, but this paragraph has got rather big.

Every player under the sun is seemingly trending, and all for one reason. Obviously FIFA 21 is coming out soon, and the geniuses at EA once more unleash their £0 budget on advertising as players, teams, banter accounts, and more, do the work for them by tweeting about it, and then of course we mention it, and then of course you mention that we mentioned it. And so on. Ker-ching. It works. Every. Year.

You’ll see this again on Saturday evening so why not impress your friends by watching in advance so you can recount the scorers when it’s rolled out on Sky Sports’ coverage. You’ll be the coolest of your group. Promise.

Leeds 4. Liverpool 3. The year 2000. What a match.

Leeds are returning to the Premier League after 16 years, but here’s how Gareth Ainsworth inspired Wycombe to reach the second tier for the first time in their 133-year history, by Lawrence Ostlere for the Independent:

The Championship kicks off tonight in the form of Watford v Middlesbrough and then your weekend starts with Fulham v Arsenal tomorrow lunchtime. Delightful.