Exclusive Interview with Chris Waddle: Newcastle United, Tottenham, Mo Salah and Premier League Analysis

Last updated: by Liam Reaney

Football legend Chris Waddle sits down with the Best Betting Sites team to share his insights on the Premier League. In this exclusive interview, Waddle discusses Newcastle’s Champions League challenge, Tottenham’s struggles, Mo Salah’s situation at Liverpool, Aston Villa’s title hopes, and much more. With a career spanning clubs like Newcastle, Tottenham, and Marseille, Waddle offers a unique perspective on the game’s biggest stories.

Newcastle United

Paul Merson says Newcastle can finish in the top 4 this season, do you agree?

I think the Premier League is very open this year. Arsenal have probably been the most consistent so far, and Manchester City are starting to put a decent run together. But realistically, I can’t quite see Newcastle finishing in the top four. As long as they’re still involved in the Champions League, I think that’s going to take its toll on them.

We saw that at the weekend. It was a very disappointing performance from Newcastle and they looked leggy. We saw something very similar a couple of years ago when they were last in the Champions League. They put a huge amount into Europe, which is understandable and rightly so, but when it came to the league games, they suffered. When you haven’t got one of the biggest squads in the league, especially in terms of experienced players, it’s very difficult to compete on both fronts. You can get away with it for a while, but over a season it catches up with you.

They travelled back from Leverkusen early on Thursday morning. They get back, they’ve got one day, and then they’re straight on the bus again. The atmosphere for a derby game is unbelievable, the pressure is huge, and they just never turned up.

December is a very busy schedule anyway. A lot of these players are internationals as well, travelling long distances, whether it’s South America or elsewhere. People don’t always realise how demanding that is.

People talk about how fit players are, but there are no easy games in the Premier League. You can’t coast through matches. We’ve seen Newcastle play very well for an hour or 70 minutes this season, then they just run out of steam.

They could still put a run together because they’ve got good players, but as long as they’re in the Champions League, I think it will continue to take its toll.

Does Eddie Howe need a cup/top-four finish to stay in a job?

You’re always under pressure in modern football. That’s just the way it is. The demands are so big now. Every club thinks they should be winning trophies because they look at what they’re paying in wages, the size of their crowds, the facilities they’ve got – but so do a lot of other teams.

Because of financial fair play and everything that comes with it, Newcastle haven’t been able to go out and buy exactly who they want, when they want. They’ve had to juggle things. They’ve had to buy a player here, sell a player there, and try to balance it all.

Years ago, some clubs could just go out and buy success. Those days are gone now. Since the rules have changed, it’s been much harder to build a squad quickly.

When you look at teams like Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool, they’ve got 20 or more players that you’d comfortably say are Premier League footballers. That’s what you need if you want to compete on multiple fronts.

Newcastle have got a very strong first eleven, but when you start looking 14 or 15 players down the line, the quality drops off. That’s not a criticism, it’s just reality.

I think Eddie Howe has done a great job. I like the way his teams play. It’s front-foot football, it’s attacking, and it suits Newcastle. On Sunday it was different because they didn’t have the energy, but normally that’s how they play.

He’s well respected at the club, and rightly so. I feel for him because he’s only got a certain number of cards to deal with. He hasn’t got 25 players he can rotate without seeing a drop in performance.

If they beat Chelsea, would that be the perfect launchpad for their clash with Manchester United on Boxing Day?

They could, but it really depends on the legs. People talk a lot about tactics and systems, but the physical and mental side of the game is huge, especially at this time of year.

Sometimes you watch a team and they just don’t look the same. The intensity drops, the sharpness isn’t there, and that’s usually down to fatigue. We saw that in the derby. Newcastle never really got going.

They looked like they were sitting deep, almost trying to protect themselves, which you don’t normally associate with them. Sunderland looked fresher, more energetic, and that told its own story.

Travelling to Germany, coming back late, staying in hotels, changing routines – it all adds up. People say players are paid well and should be able to deal with it, but it’s still very demanding.

As a team, Newcastle looked leggy. They didn’t have the energy to press, to take players on, or to impose themselves on the game.

What is going on with Newcastle’s home and away form? They’re a different animal at home.

Yeah, exactly that. At home, the fans demand front-foot football and more often than not they get it. The atmosphere lifts the players.

Away from home, and especially when European games are involved, the energy levels just aren’t the same. Eddie Howe would love to rotate four or five players like the top clubs do, but he can’t.

When he doesn’t get his strongest eleven out, he’s probably only got two or three players he can bring in. After that, you start asking whether those players are actually better than the opposition they’re up against.

He probably needs another six or seven top-quality players, and that’s not easy. It takes time and it takes money. Until that happens, Newcastle will continue to find it difficult to compete consistently on all fronts.

Can they retain the League Cup?

They’ll certainly be aiming to keep the cup. Fulham can be exciting, but they’re inconsistent. I watched them at the weekend and there were spells where they were very open.

The difference is that Fulham are playing once a week. Newcastle have had Europe, then a derby, and now another big game. Fulham will come up fresh.

People say players should be able to cope because they’re fit and well looked after, but it’s not just physical. It’s mental as well. Football now comes thick and fast, and when Newcastle try to rotate the squad, it doesn’t always work.

How good is their pressing game?

When they press from the front, they cause teams all sorts of problems. It sets the tone and it gets the crowd involved.

But if you don’t have the energy to do it properly, you can’t half-press. You either do it or you don’t, and at the moment this period is relentless for them. Against Sunderland they couldn’t do it, but with the crowd behind them at home, I expect them to be a totally different proposition.

They’ve got league games, cup games, Europe, and then the FA Cup starts again. There’s no real break, and it’s very difficult to maintain that intensity without a big squad.

What advice would you give to Nick Woltemade and new signings from abroad on how to cope with festive fixtures in English football?

It’ll be a shock to the system for him. The Bundesliga shuts down over winter, so this period is completely different to what he’s used to.

He’s probably watched English football at Christmas on television, but experiencing it is another thing altogether. He’s done very well since he came in. He looks a real character, very bubbly, and confident in himself.

But now it’s game after game after game, every three days. In Germany, you’d be thinking about your last game and then having a break. Here, there’s no let-up.

He’ll find it demanding, but he looks like the sort of lad who’ll just get on with it. He doesn’t look fazed, and that’s a good sign.

Which one signing would you like Newcastle to make when the transfer window opens?

For me, it would be a backup centre-forward. They rely very heavily on their main striker and they don’t really have a natural alternative.

Gordon and Barnes aren’t centre-forwards. They like playing wide and coming inside. If you lose your main striker or need to change a game late on, you don’t really have that option.

Even if you bring in someone experienced, maybe 32 or 33, who can give you a year or 18 months, that could be really important. Someone you can throw on when things aren’t working.

The midfield three, when everyone’s fit, are as good as any in the league. Defensively they’ve got options as well, but injuries keep disrupting things. It always seems to be one thing after another.

Overall, I think a backup centre-forward would be the priority. I know Wissa was signed in the summer, and he scored plenty for Brentford last season, but he hasn’t really got going yet because of his injury problems since he signed. It’s a cliche, but maybe he can be that ‘new signing’ and provide the goals to allow Eddie some rotation, but I’m not sure. Even with Wissa back and firing, I think Newcastle look short up top.

Tottenham Hotspur

Would a win for Tottenham against Liverpool make Thomas Frank safe in his job ahead of the transfer window, and would it help his chances of getting financial backing in January?

I think Frank is under serious pressure now. It’s crunch time for his Tottenham future, which seems ridiculous, but that’s the way football is. I do feel sorry for him. Tottenham are a club with huge ambitions, and the expectations are always high.

Thomas Frank has come from Brentford, where they were very well organised and drilled. Tottenham’s ambitions are much bigger than that – they want top four, they want to be challenging for titles.

But when you look at the recruitment, they don’t buy the very top players. They buy potential, and then they often sell that potential on.

You can’t keep blaming tactics. Whatever system you play, players have to win their individual battles. Tottenham concede too many goals and lack consistency.

Until they keep their best players and really build around them, they’ll always be nearly men.

Is Ivan Toney the player they should be targeting?

I liked him at Brentford. I was surprised he went away, but we know why players go to Saudi Arabia and that’s not a criticism. He’s been away a year or two now, and the big question is whether he would still have that sharpness and whether he could adapt back to the Premier League.

Centre-forward is a very difficult position to fill. You’ve got to look at how you play and whether the striker suits that style. Thomas Frank may say he has a certain way of playing, but Tottenham are tactically very different from his Brentford team.

That’s partly because the crowd demands attacking football. They want entertainment. I know what it’s like to play for Tottenham. In an ideal world, Thomas Frank might not want to be as offensive as he is, but fans want results and they want excitement. It’s got to be entertaining football.

He’s probably fallen into that trap of thinking, how do I please the fans? I’m not saying Ivan Toney wouldn’t do a job. We know he did very well at Brentford. He’s not the paciest, but he’s a good target man, links play well and scores goals. He proved that.

The question for Tottenham is whether they look at his age and whether they think they can sell him on in three years’ time. That’s how they tend to think. They’ll ask if they’ll get their money back, and let’s be honest, I don’t think they would. That’s how Tottenham operate in the market. They’re always looking to make money.

They even got rid of Son, probably at a time when his legs were just starting to go, and sold him to America for good money. A lot of fans would say, ‘Why get rid of him? You could have had another year out of him.’ But the club see it as an opportunity to make money.

With Ivan Toney, it depends on the price. Tottenham are crying out for a centre-forward at the minute. If they’re going to go down that road in January, that’s fine, but they need proven quality.

Whether that’s players from Italy, France, Germany or Spain, they need to identify them and say, ‘We’re buying him now.’ If they haven’t got the money and they’re still paying off debts from the stadium, then put your hand up and say so. Fans will understand.

But if they do have the money, they need three or four established footballers. If they get them, Tottenham’s season and future could change massively.

Premier League

What do you make of Mo Salah’s outburst?

For me, he should have just knocked on the manager’s door and had a conversation. Sit down and ask where you stand. Are you a sub? Are you in and out? Are you going to be off the bench? If the answer is yes, then you say, ‘I’d like to leave. I’d like to go to America or wherever.’ That happens to every player. Age catches up with you. You don’t go on forever.

Liverpool have a massive squad. He might be looking at it and thinking he’s not chasing back, goals are coming down that side, and maybe the manager wants something different. If you can’t do the legwork, it becomes a problem.

All of this could have been sorted in the manager’s office. Instead it played out in the media. As a manager, you don’t need that. Fans start asking questions and it creates unnecessary pressure. All it needed was a conversation.

Eventually, Mo Salah won’t be at Liverpool. That happens to all players. He’ll always be a legend there, but there comes a point when you want to play.

I always said I’d rather play than sit on the bench. If that meant moving clubs or dropping a level, so be it. I didn’t want to sit there playing eight or nine games a season.

When you get into your thirties, you want to play. You don’t want to be on the bench. Maybe it was a shock to him being dropped. Maybe that’s why it came out the way it did. But it really could have been sorted in ten minutes.

Is Antoine Semenyo the player that Liverpool should go for to replace Mo Salah?

Listen, clubs like Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and Real Madrid will all be aware of him. They can afford those fees. He has the reported £60m release clause, which is looking like a bargain in this day and age when you consider what he brings and his numbers over the last two years. People might say he’s not Real Madrid class, but he’s proven he is a class player because he plays against top opposition every week and causes problems every time. Whether it’s Liverpool, Manchester United or anyone else, he’s always involved and always dangerous. He’s definitely right up there at the minute and it won’t just be English clubs looking at him. Whoever gets him will be signing a top, top quality player. I hope that Bournemouth can hold on to him for the rest of the season, but with Ghana missing out on AFCON, he’s going to be even more in demand.

Semenyo is a top player. I couldn’t name too many footballers who have been better than him in the last year.

Is Semenyo the PL’s best winger?

I think he’s playing to his strengths. He looked good last season and he’s looked even better this season. He’s getting older, getting more experienced and, importantly, more consistent. As a wide player, you rely on service and the way Bournemouth play suits him. He gets a lot of the ball. He’s clever, he’s got good pace, he’s got a trick, and as you say, he loves to come inside.

I can’t really think of a better wide player at the minute. He could even play as a number ten if you wanted him to. He’s got a great change of pace, he’s calm in front of goal and he never seems to be ruffled.

I said a few months back that he was one of the standout players of the season and I still believe that. When people talk about Player of the Year, he has to be in the conversation because Bournemouth have been very good and he’s been consistent.

Every time you watch him, you think something’s going to happen. He looks confident, he can score, he can create. He’s a quality player. Sometimes you get players who can dribble but have no end product. He’s got everything. He can beat people, he’s got pace and he scores goals.

He’s been at the top of his game all season and last season he was good as well, so he’s having a real purple patch. He’s definitely on the radar of big clubs, and Bournemouth will sell because that’s their model.

They keep finding these players and producing them. He’s one who, if I were at a big club in England or Europe, I’d be looking at very closely.

Are Aston Villa credible title challengers?

They always are. Villa are a great side. When people talk about managers like Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp, Unai Emery deserves to be right up there as well. I thought he did a good job at Arsenal, even though at the time they weren’t buying players like they do today. Then he went to Villarreal, and let’s be honest, what he did there was remarkable. He completely turned them around and they were brilliant in Europe.

When he got the Villa job, what he’s done there has been absolutely fantastic. I read an interview with Tielemans recently where he talked about how hard Emery works on the system. He’s very intense, very tactical. You’ve got to be at it every day. If you’re not switched on, you won’t get a game.

What he’s done with Villa has been brilliant, and there’s no reason why they can’t challenge in the league. He’ll be playing it down, and Villa will probably say it’s just a good run, but it’s more than that. They’re playing in Europe as well, and that will take its toll over the season, especially with squad numbers.

That said, when Emery buys players, he buys good players. I wouldn’t write Villa off at all. The league is quite open. A lot of people say Arsenal will win it, but I don’t see it as that simple. City are knocking on the door again and starting to get results.

Villa’s run has been incredible. Confidence is flowing. Rogers is firing again, they’ve got a lot of good players, and everything seems to be going for them. The only thing that will stop them is injuries or fatigue. All these games add up.

They’re going to have a blip at some point — you can’t keep winning forever — and it’s about how they come through that busy period. If they get through December and into January still flying, there’s no reason they can’t kick on.

The next four or five weeks are going to be a big test for a lot of clubs. We’ll see who comes out on top, but Villa have every chance. Emery is a terrific manager — absolutely fantastic.

Would you end Jadon Sancho’s loan in January if you were Unai Emery?

I think his confidence has been knocked badly over the years. We saw him as a young player, and everyone talked about him as a future star. When he went to Dortmund at a young age, people were surprised, but he did really well there.

That lured Manchester United into paying huge money for him, and since coming back to England it just hasn’t worked. Some players simply find the Premier League too hard. It’s too fast, too demanding, too physical, and unfortunately I put Jadon Sancho in that category. I’d say the same about Antony at Manchester United.

Antony has gone to Betis and looks like one of the best players in Spain because the league suits him. I think Sancho should have stayed in Germany. He should never have come back from Dortmund the second time. Whether Dortmund or another club in that league should have taken him, I don’t know, but the Bundesliga suits his game.

There’s more space, a bit more time on the ball. The Premier League is fast, furious, physical and mentally demanding. People forget that.

If you take Bayern Munich out of the Bundesliga, most teams are fairly similar in level. That suited him. Coming back to England and then going to Villa, where he’s a squad player and not getting games, hasn’t helped him.

Managers often think they can get something out of a player when it hasn’t worked elsewhere. But apart from Germany, nobody’s really got anything out of him. He was at Chelsea as well, and they didn’t take the option to keep him. Now he’s at Villa, and realistically they won’t either.

At some point, he needs to say to himself that he’s better off playing in Germany, Spain, Italy or France, where his style suits the league. His Premier League career, if we’re being honest, has been disastrous.

You do feel for him because there is a player in there. When he first went to Dortmund, people were saying, “Wow, how did they get him?” But the pressure, the league and the physicality got to him, and he lost confidence early on.

As long as he’s in England, I think he’ll find it very difficult.

Sheffield Wednesday

What do you make of Mike Ashley as a potential owner?

What Wednesday need is someone to come in with a proper plan. The training ground needs upgrading, the stadium needs work, the squad needs rebuilding. It’s a massive job and there’s no quick fix.

You can’t just say, “We’ll buy players.” Yes, players are important, but the infrastructure has to be sorted as well. With the points deduction, it’s very difficult for them. You almost have to accept they’ll go down and then start building properly.

If they go into League One, a lot of these players would do fine, but the question is whether they want to do a Birmingham or Wrexham — spend big, get out of the league straight away and get the fans going again.

When you get into the Championship, that’s where the pressure really starts. Spending a few million here and there doesn’t buy you promotion. If you want to get out of that league, you need serious money and a serious plan.

The Championship isn’t as strong as it once was, but it’s still incredibly difficult. I do think Mike Ashley could get Wednesday into the Premier League, and I think he could keep them there. But I don’t think you’d see them challenging for Europe or trophies under him.

It would be about survival, like it was at Newcastle. At first, fans accept that, but after a few years they want more. Newcastle fans eventually got bored of mid-table finishes and no ambition.

If Mike Ashley sees Wednesday as a club he can get into the Premier League and then sell on, that’s one way of looking at it. But ideally, you want an owner with a 10-, 20-, 30-year vision. There’s no point replacing Chansiri with someone who’s basically the same. Saying you’ve got £20 or £30 million for a couple of years isn’t enough. That money disappears very quickly once you start upgrading facilities and buying players.

Wednesday need someone who comes in and says, “I want to take this club forward, challenge in the Premier League, get into Europe, win cups.” That’s what the fans want. You can get 30,000 to 35,000 fans through the gate if you get it right, and not many clubs can do that. The potential is there.

Look at Crystal Palace. They’ve plotted along, then got things right, won the FA Cup and got into Europe. It can be done if the club is run properly.

Wednesday need the next owner to get it right — not just over a short spell to please the fans, but as a long-term project where you get into the Premier League and stay there.

Who has been your worst player of 2025?

I think if you look at it, it’s very easy to start with Liverpool, isn’t it? Some of the signings they’ve made just haven’t delivered. Frimpong’s always injured. Wirtz hasn’t hit the ground running at all. Isak hasn’t really done anything since he left Newcastle.

People might say he was catching up on fitness and all that goes with it, but when you look at value for money, you have to say the signings Liverpool made haven’t really done what people expected. I know it’s only half a season and things can turn around, but at the moment, they’re the ones getting the headlines for players not performing.

People have had a go at Simons at Tottenham as well, but he’s gone into a struggling team that’s completely unpredictable. It’s hard to find consistency in that side, so I can’t really jump on the kid’s back.

The only thing I’ll always defend is young players coming from abroad. Someone like Wirtz, he’s a young lad coming from Germany. He’s settling into a new country, a new league, a different language, probably living in a hotel at first. That takes time.

Whereas Isak should really have been hitting the ground running two or three weeks ago. He knows the English game, he’s played here before. Whether the pressure of the fee has affected him, I don’t know. But expectations are higher with someone like that.

You can go through other teams as well. Manchester United, for example. You look at their centre-forwards — Zirkzee, Højlund — they haven’t hit the ground running at all, and they’ve cost big money. When you look at it like that, they’ve been a massive disappointment for United.

Adam Wharton or Elliot Anderson – who partners Declan Rice for England this summer?

They’re slightly different players. Wharton is more of a sitter. He plays in front of the two centre-halves, he plays deep, gets on the ball and very rarely gives it away. He reads the game well, and defensively, he’s probably stronger than Anderson.

Anderson has more licence to get around the pitch. I’m not saying he’s got more energy, but he does get forward more. If you’re pairing someone with Declan Rice, I’d probably go with Wharton.

Declan Rice has become a far better player since he’s been allowed to get forward. He’s now box-to-box, he scores goals, makes runs and drives into the final third. Wharton could sit and say, “You do that, I’ll stay here and distribute,” which is the role Rice used to play himself.

I’m a big fan of Wharton. I like what he does. Anderson is also very good, and you could even play Anderson with Wharton and leave Rice out, depending on the system.

If you’re playing three in midfield and one is a number 10, Rice almost becomes a half number 10 now because of how much he gets forward. In that case, Wharton becomes your safeguard in front of the centre-halves.

If you look at England’s weaknesses going into a World Cup, defending could be an issue. You’ll probably need that screen in front of the defence. If that’s the case, I’d go with Wharton. If the manager wants to be more adventurous, Anderson can do the job as well, because he does create and drive forward. But overall, Wharton probably just edges it for me.

Should any PL club take a punt on Neymar, and if so who?

I don’t think it would be a big club. He’s had a serious knee injury, a cruciate ligament, and although he scored a hat-trick recently, the Premier League is fast and furious.

He’s pushing for the Brazilian squad, and to be honest, Brazil aren’t as strong as they used to be. He should probably get in, but I don’t see them winning the World Cup.

When I look at Neymar and the English game, I’m not sure it suits him anymore. If someone did bring him in, it would be more about how many shirts they sell and the profile he brings rather than him making the team significantly better.

It would be a commercial move rather than a football one. He’s not going to come to Sheffield Wednesday, is he?

It would be brilliant, though. I’d definitely take that. But realistically, it would be about the club’s profile, not just his ability. I’m not saying he’s not a good player — he is — but he’s 33 now. He’s had a major injury, he’s been playing back at Santos, and even though he scored a hat-trick recently, it’s a different level.

To me, it would be about marketing, promotion and visibility rather than improving a team on the pitch.

The Team Behind This Interview

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