In his latest Betway column, our global ambassador also discusses Arsenal's squad depth, Kylian Mbappe's form and his memories of playing in El Clasico.
How impressed have you been with Crystal Palace continuing to get results despite losing many of their best players?
I’ve been impressed ever since Oliver Glasner arrived. The work he has done since the start of last season is magnificent.
That’s why you pay coaches the big money, because he has put a system out there that everyone will understand, no matter who plays in it. You lose Olise, you lose Eze and it’s still the same team, because they all know what they need to do.
Palace have power and they have skill. They have Daniel Muñoz, who gives you goals, assists and grit. The two sitting midfielders are getting better. And then you have Mateta who scored three goals against Bournemouth and could have scored four.
You coached Mateta at the Olympics – how pleased are you to see him doing so well?
You know what I think of him, because I took him to the Olympics as an over-23 player. I had the whole of France to choose from, but I value what he does. He’s been banging goals and playing well for a long time.
There’s something about Jean-Philippe that I cannot describe. He’s not a stepover, nutmeg kind of player, but he will work for you and he’s a lovable guy.
As much as people were talking about Olise-Eze-Mateta, it doesn’t work if you don’t have a No. 9 who can run into channels and play alone. He drives the team forward.
He’s the perfect example that it’s not what path you take, it’s what you’re going to do when you don’t succeed.
To see him score for France with an assist from Akliouche, it reminded me of the Olympic Games. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy, and I always believed that he could do it.
What was he like to coach as a senior player in the Olympic squad?
He was the big brother and the little brother. If you wanted to cry, you cried on his shoulder, if you wanted to laugh, he’d make you laugh, and when he had to be serious, he was serious.
It was very important for me to pick a guy who was going to be approachable, and whatever the team needed, that’s what he was.
I’m not comparing him to any other striker, but at some point you want to reward work ethic and a guy who is performing. I know he’s not your fluid No. 9, but look at the goals he has scored for Palace, the amount of runs he makes and pressure he puts on defenders.
His reward was finally going to the national team. You get what you deserve, and he really does deserve it.
Arsenal’s squad depth has helped them withstand some major injuries, but are you concerned about Bukayo Saka’s workload, and could you see Ethan Nwaneri and Max Dowman being given more minutes?
The squad is bigger, and we must respect whatever the rotation is going to be from Mikel Arteta. Having the choice is what he wanted. They analysed what they were missing in the past three years when players like Odegaard, Saliba and Saka got injured, and the club felt they were short.
Are the youngsters going to come in more often? You need to ask Mikel. But as an Arsenal fan, you love to see Nwaneri, Dowman and Lewis-Skelly, and Saka is from the academy as well.
I always say that to win the league, you need a squad. Having some guys who can jump in when the No. 9 is not scoring is what will make the difference.
I used to feel that Arsenal could win the league as a fan, because you dream and you hope. For the first time in a long time, I can see this team winning the league – not just as an Arsenal fan, but as a football fan and an analyst. I see it, because they are united.
Many of Arsene Wenger’s former players have gone into management, such as yourself, Patrick Vieira, Mikel Arteta and now Jack Wilshere. How did Wenger influence you as a coach?
Arsene knew to make sure that the game wasn’t too scripted. At some point, you need to let the creator create. A lot of people are calling the game boring, but I would say the game is so scripted and so coached. Sometimes, you stop the guy who plays off the cuff from inventing something.
You don’t ever go to the house of the painter and tell him how to paint. Give him paint, give him a frame, leave and let him surprise you.
As a player, you want to go on the field knowing the other team’s weaknesses, what they do and don’t do. But at some point, who plays? Let me play.
You need the license to “kill”. Arsene gave me that. He said to be confident, dribble, be yourself, and looking back I can clearly see that freedom he gave us.
Barcelona travel to the Bernabeu to face Real Madrid this weekend. What are your lasting memories of El Clasico?
We had some big wins, but I remember the day we had to do el pasillo, where you clap the champions onto the pitch.
I actually wanted to go and do it. Some players didn’t clap, but I clapped because I said, “when I come back, I won’t be clapping. Something else will happen.”
It happened – we won 6-2 at their place.
Some people are scared of failure but it’s part of the journey – embrace it. I took it, it was tough to swallow, and they toyed with us on that day of el pasillo when we lost 4-1. But we came back and won 6-2 on the way to win the treble.
I have great memories of the Bernabeu. I played three times there and scored every time, so it was a good stadium for me.
Do you see Sunday as a meeting of the world’s best two players in Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal?
Whenever you talk about ‘the best player in the world’, you can put a lot of people up there. When people ask who is the best – what are we talking about here? We’re talking about greats, Mbappe, Haaland, Kane, Lewandowski, who have been banging 50 goals a year.
I might look like a party pooper by asking ‘who cares?’, but those guys have all given us so much joy.
For me, what you’re going to see on Sunday is two good teams with a lot of history. I was at the one in Barcelona last year, the crazy one that finished 4-3, and it was a great spectacle.
Sometimes you go to a game to watch great players, but in this one you watch two institutions, two great teams, and two special, special players. I just hope Barca win.
Mbappe, Haaland and Kane are all off to electric starts this season. Are you excited by this resurgence of the No. 9 as the focal point of so many teams?
The talk for the past five or six years was about the lack of No. 9s, but I think people are really talking about how many good No. 9s there are, because now teams play with one up front, and wingers.
The No. 9s who are here are still great. You can add Lewandowski to the list – whenever you put him on the field, he scores.
I look at what Haaland’s doing this year and I don’t understand how he can beat his own scoring records. He has evolved in how he plays the game.
Kane has already showed us for more than 10 years what he can do.
And if you look at Mbappe, you don’t have a lot of guys in history who could play on the right, the left and in the middle. Kylian is learning how to be a No. 9 while already being on 200 goals.
Watch Madrid this year – his first step is back. His eyes are back. The way he goes about the game, it looks like he’s loving it. When he looks like that, we’re all in trouble, but I’m French so I don’t mind.
Visit Betway’s football betting page.
