OTB Football
FOOTBALL DAILY: Ireland's new assistant coach, Spurs Frank about his future, Shels the data guys and Parrott on his way to Leeds?
20 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Off the Ball, GAA. What is it about the Dingle Peninsula that creates such great football?
It's an interesting one, isn't it? There's a story, a tradition down there and they're obviously on a crest of a wave at the minute.
Join in the obsession. Subscribe now at offtheball.com forward slash join. Off the Balls, Football Daily. Hello and welcome along to Tuesday's Football Daily. I'm Phil Egan. Coming up today, Spurs boss Thomas Frank comes out fighting as he comes under increasing pressure for his job. Pep Guardiola is pleased with the City board for a defensive signing.
Is Troy Parrott on his way out of the Netherlands? And as the League of Ireland season draws closer, clubs rush to get their deals done. But first up today, Gary Cronin has been appointed as assistant coach of the Ireland women's team. The former Bray Wanderers boss will join Carla Ward's coaching staff as a replacement for Alan Matten, who stepped down from the role in December.
Cronin also managed Longford and was an assistant coach with Bohemians. The girls in green kick off their 2027 World Cup qualifying campaign at home to France on the 3rd of March. The Netherlands and Poland are also in the group. Tottenham boss Thomas Frank says he still has the trust of the board, despite the club's run of form lately.
Spurs has Borussia Dortmund tonight, knowing a win would lift them into the Champions League top eight. But some Spurs fans called for Frank to be sacked after Saturday's 2-1 loss at home to West Ham, a result that left him 14th in the Premier League. The Danes urging the fans to stick with his injury hit site.
As long as we win football matches and make sure we do that, then everyone will support us. It's about supporting the team, supporting the players. We have 11 players available and maybe have three players that need to push massively to get through 90 minutes. So that's why we need everyone to support us.
Spurs forward Xavi Simons says the players have to take responsibility for the team's struggles. Simons says the squad has to pull together if they want to turn it around.
This is the highest level of football. And as we know as a group, we have to stick together. It's not only the coaches, it's the whole club. And that's the most important thing in football.
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Chapter 2: Who is Gary Cronin and what does his appointment mean for the Ireland women's team?
Some fans want the Sweden international dropped after their nil-all draw with Nottingham Forest at the weekend. Arteta believes the challenge Jokeres faces is as tough as it gets.
I think it goes for all the nines in the league and how difficult it is to play that position nowadays with the physicality, with the dominance of the centre-backs and the quality of them. That's about consistency, about going again. We know his work rate. He's really trying to give his best and we need to continue to work.
One player who'd like to start ahead of Jacarez is Gabriel Jesus and he's also hoping Arsenal offer him a new deal. The Brazil international has just returned from an 11-month injury layoff. It has been reported Jesus is wanted back in Brazil by Palmeiras. His current deal expires next summer and he says his dream is to win trophies with Arsenal.
My first target is to be healthy from now till the end of the season. And then my wish is to stay at Arsenal. I want to extend my contract. I want to stay. I want to win trophies with Arsenal because I come here with a purpose and that's it.
Arsenal teenager Ethan Wanyeri could be on his way to Marseille on loan for the rest of the season. The Athletics reporting the French club is working on a deal to sign the 18-year-old. It would be a loan deal with no option to buy. Wanyeri only signed the new five-year deal with Arsenal during the summer.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has praised the club's hierarchy after completing the signing of Mark Gahey. The England internationals agreed a five-and-a-half-year contract after a Ā£20m move from Crystal Palace.
I'm a top central defender. I play in the national team. I've had the perfect gauge for many years and can play right, left because I know how it was wanted to choose us and bring him back for the problems that we have in the back in the next few months. So, yeah, it's really, really important he's here.
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Chapter 3: What challenges is Spurs boss Thomas Frank facing amid pressure for his job?
City are in Norway to face Bolo Glimt tonight, looking for a win that would maintain their place in the top eight of the Champions League. Guardiola admits their preparations have been different ahead of the game, which will be on an artificial pitch in the Arctic Circle.
We trained the night before, when never, never, since I am here in Manchester, never trained in the stadium before. But they have to see how the ball bounds, how the short passes, long passes, this kind of stuff, how quick you adapt and adjust to the uncomfortable situations you are closer to a success.
That game kicks off at 5.45. Elsewhere in the Champions League tonight, Holders PSG in third place are away to Sporting. The teams who currently occupy the last two qualifying spots meet in Denmark. It's Copenhagen against Napoli. Real Madrid take on Monaco in the Spanish capital. Bayer Leverkusen are away to Olympiacos and Villarreal play Ajax in Spain.
First up today at half three, it's Kairat Amati against Club Brugge in Astana. The rest of the games start at 8 o'clock, apart from that City game, which I mentioned starts at a quarter to six. Manchester United have been linked with a new midfielder in this transfer window. Reports in Spain say that man could be Barcelona midfielder Marc Asado.
The other player mentioned is Sunderland's Noah Siddiqui, who joined from Union Saint-Gilles in the summer. And the reports say that United could offer Emmanuel Ugarte to Sunderland in a swap deal. United We Stand editor Andy Mitten was on the football show with Michael McCarthy last night.
And despite the positive result in the Manchester derby last Saturday, Mitten says the real test will be against the so-called Leicester teams.
not to fall into the cliche of Fulham being the real test, but that isn't something you can do all year. And that is something that, again, while we say get carried away and enjoy it, that's the reason you're not getting carried away.
Absolutely not. What is the real test for Man United? Because this season, United have beaten Liverpool away, they've beaten City at home, they've beaten Chelsea at home, they've beaten Palace away. The real tests, they've failed when they've been expected to beat lesser teams. Didn't beat Lost at home to Everton with 10 men. Didn't beat West Ham at home. Didn't beat Bournemouth at home.
Didn't beat Wolves at home. So it's been baffling and frustratingly so. So you'd hope there was some sort of continuity, some sort of consistency. Even within games, Manchester United have been inconsistent. So...
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Chapter 4: What is Mikel Arteta's strategy for managing Arsenal's busy schedule?
I mean, last year when Manchester United finished 15th and Tottenham 17th, one of the big problems they had, United in particular, they couldn't beat the mid-table teams. And whereas we're all accustomed to phrases like big six and the gap had closed and these teams were, these clubs were able to hire good managers and when they had good recruitment policies were to sign good players.
And it has become a lot harder for those clubs, which I suspect is one of the factors that may well do for Thomas Frank at Tottenham and he's been on both sides of this as the upwardly mobile smaller club and now the club with the big six expectations that's being pushed down but then you put in the individual factors of every club you know Manchester United
This season, if they don't get Champions League, will go down as a massive missed opportunity because I think the points total to get fourth or fifth will be quite low. They started the season with the wrong manager and the wrong formation and the wrong football. You see Newcastle, for instance, who could have been up there, but the ESAC sale, that has hit them and pushed them back.
Liverpool are struggling to beat, well, they're struggling to beat the promoted clubs at the moment. And so we've somehow accidentally ended up with a brand of equality that the top clubs really don't want. And they want the system to favour them. And maybe in two or three years' time, they will have reasserted it. And it will be, of course, Manchester United will beat Brentford.
Of course, Liverpool will beat Burnley. Of course, Tottenham will beat Fulham. At the moment, it's not like that.
Thank you very much. The general feeling, though, is Canate will leave for free in the summer. Leeds have been linked with a bid for Troy Parrott, who's excelled in the Netherlands with Azed Alkmaar, who recently parted way with their manager. The Ireland international would cost almost ā¬25 million. And Shelburne have signed Portuguese forward Rodrigo Freitas from third-tier Varzim.
The 23-year-old joins Mel Lundgren and Oren Casey as recruits, sourced beyond the LOI through their player database Jamestown Analytics. Meanwhile, Derry City have signed Welsh forward Josh Thomas, who impressed on loan at Drogheda from Swansea last season, despite some injury issues. The Candy Stripes have been busy ahead of the new season.
They've brought in James and Patrick McLean, James Clarke, Dara Markey, Rob Slevin and James Aliinka. And Slugger Rovers boss John Russell is looking for new striker Mike Traore to make an immediate impact. The Bitter Red have also secured the return of defender Shane Blaney on loan from Livingston for the first half of the new season. That's about all we have time for in today's Football Daily.
I'm Phil Egan. I'll be back with more tomorrow. To unlock much more from the OTB football feed, sign up at offtheball.com forward slash join now.
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