{"id":295627,"date":"2023-10-09T08:24:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T08:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=295627"},"modified":"2023-10-09T08:24:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-09T08:24:00","slug":"kyle-walker-bust-up-coach-used-to-work-for-man-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/kyle-walker-bust-up-coach-used-to-work-for-man-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyle Walker bust-up coach used to work for Man City"},"content":{"rendered":"
An apparent handshake snub involving Kyle Walker and a former Manchester City coach sparked the dramatic tunnel bust-up which followed Arsenal’s late win at the Emirates on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Sky Sports video footage showed City defender Walker and team-mate Erling Haaland walking off the field after Gabriel Martinelli’s 86th-minute goal inflicted their second successive league loss.<\/p>\n
Nicolas Jover, the Arsenal set-piece coach who worked in the same role for Pep Guardiola\u00a0at City between 2019 and 2021, is seen offering a handshake to Walker but is dismissed.<\/p>\n
Berlin-born Jover, 41, began his career in the game as a video analyst at French club Montpellier and briefly served in a similar role for the Croatia national team.<\/p>\n
He came to England in July 2016 to work as an assistant coach to Dean Smith at Brentford and continued under Thomas Frank when the Bees were in the Championship.<\/p>\n
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Arsenal’s win over Manchester City on Sunday saw a furious tunnel bust-up between City defender Kyle Walker and Gunners set-piece coach Nicolas Jover after the final whistle<\/p>\n
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Jover (right) worked under Pep Guardiola as part of City’s backroom team between 2019-2021<\/p>\n
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But Jover then moved to work for Mikel Arteta, Guardiola’s former No 2, at Arsenal in 2021<\/p>\n
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His talents were recognised by Guardiola and in 2019, Jover joined City’s coaching staff to work on set-pieces.<\/p>\n
While at the Etihad, Jover worked in his first few months with Mikel Arteta, Guardiola’s No 2, before he left to take the Arsenal job.<\/p>\n
Arteta persuaded Jover to take a similar role at Arsenal in July 2021 after previous set-piece coach Andreas Georgson returned to Malmo as sporting director.<\/p>\n
Jover established a reputation for set-piece innovation – during his two years with City, the club created 104 chances from set plays in Premier League action, leading to 16 goals.<\/p>\n
He also improved City’s record of defending opposition set-pieces, helping them reduce the percentage of goals conceded from such situation from 39 per cent in 2018-19 to just 20 per cent the following season and 19 per cent the season after.<\/p>\n
Arsenal’s set-piece effectiveness showed a similar improvement once Jover was installed at the club.<\/p>\n
Sky footage showed how Walker dismissed Jover with several waves of his hand and continues walking towards the tunnel after the final whistle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, after words are exchanged, Walker turns back and directly confronts Jover with the pair practically face-to-face as they continue their row.<\/p>\n
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Sky Sports footage of the incident showed Jover offering Walker a handshake as the City man walked towards the tunnel, only for Walker to dismiss him with a wave of the hand<\/p>\n
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Words are then exchanged and an angered Walker turns back in order to confront Jover\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Footage filmed from the stands near the Emirates tunnel show Walker angrily exchanging words and jabbing his finger as other City players and staff from both sides get involved<\/p>\n
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Walker is led away back towards the tunnel but points his finger at an Arsenal official<\/p>\n
Haaland also turns around to back Walker up before the situation quickly escalates with coaches from both teams – as well as several other City players – becoming involved.<\/p>\n
A clearly agitated Walker continues to argue until he is eventually persuaded down the tunnel, pointing his finger in the face of an Arsenal official at one stage.<\/p>\n
Another camera angle showed Jover wagging his finger at nobody in particular while being calmed by Bukayo Saka.<\/p>\n
Guardiola refuses to elaborate on what caused the bust-up afterwards, saying: ‘I know what happened but I won’t say anything. They know it.’<\/p>\n
Martinelli’s deflected winner ended Arsenal’s 12-match losing streak in Premier League encounters against City.<\/p>\n
It means City have lost three of their last four matches in an unusual blip for Guardiola’s side.<\/p>\n
They were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Newcastle United, then went down 2-1 to Wolves in the league at Molineux.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They recovered with a 3-1 Champions League win away to RB Leipzig in midweek but then suffered Sunday’s defeat in north London as we enter the international fortnight.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Walker was visibly angered by whatever was said by Jover, sparking the mass bust-up\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Jover is pictured with Arteta after Arsenal beat City to win the Community Shield in August<\/p>\n
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Bukayo Saka reacts during the post-match fracas after Arsenal had overcome Man City<\/p>\n
Arsenal boss Arteta insisted after the game that he had not seen the altercation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Former Manchester City defender Micah Richards said: ‘It looked like he was going to shake his hand, but Kyle didn’t really want to,<\/p>\n
‘We’re in October, if we were in March or April I could understand the frustration, they probably don’t want to go to Arsenal and lose but it’s not the end of the world.’\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ex-Arsenal winger Theo Walcott, also working for Sky, said a ‘nerve had been hit’ in the post-match fracas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘We always look at City and they’ve been very professional and not reacting in situations,’ he added.<\/p>\n
‘And that’s where I feel like a nerve’s been hit here, and he’s caught it there definitely.’<\/p>\n
It’s All Kicking Off\u00a0is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football, launching with a preview show today and every week this season.<\/span><\/p>\n It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube , Apple Music and Spotify<\/span><\/p>\n Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n