Nothing changes
WEEK two of the new Premier League season saw Manchester United concede a penalty at ( Shock horror) Old Trafford which to my eyes was iffy to say the least. Spurs conceded a penalty at Southampton which was even iffier. And Arsenal didn’t concede a penalty against West Ham for broadly the same offence as with United and Spurs but far more clear cut. In that same game Arsenal’s winner was clearly offside yet given while at Southampton ‘Arry had a goal disallowed for Sonny being declared offside by virtue of an alleged stray eyelash. It’s fair to say that our officials’ use of VAR hasn’t in any way improved from last season.
They say you should never go back
For a few years now many Spurs fans have yearned for Gareth Bale to get back to playing in front of fans who appreciate him as opposed to not playing at all at a club where the fans are so spoilt that they cannot appreciate what he has done for them in their colours. A part of me is delighted at Bale’s return but I do wonder how effective can an injury prone 31 year old can be, hopefully his workload will be managed because there were few things more exciting than Gareth Bale in full flow terrorizing defences when in his pomp playing alongside the likes of Rafa van der Vaart and Luka Modric, now his supporting cast includes Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min and if that isn’t a tasty prospect then I don’t know what is.
Opium for the masses
So having decreed that our national sport cannot admit spectators into our national sports’ stadiums possibly until next summer once again the government have screwed over our national sport. They have no qualms about chucking (Taxpayers) money at the arts, and to no-one’s surprise rugby union and the ‘sport of Kings’ can also expect cash support but footie can go whistle. To an extent I can see their point; the Premier League is, make that was, a cash generating monster and therefore should be able to look after itself and the lower divisions but things aren’t that simple. Each club has its financial concerns with in most cases debt to be financed, repayments made, and wages to pay and in that way they’re really no different to the stores on the High Street who need to have cash flow to survive. Where there is a difference is in the government being perfectly happy to hand out oodles of our dosh to keep the likes of Philip Green comfy in his tax haven berthed yacht while owing to changed circumstances, giving MP’s ten grand extra for the inconvenience of working from home. Still we’re only talking about football which after all is for the plebs even though it contributes about ten Billion quid to the government’s coffers which I presume will be substantially down following the governments fanatical and farcical decision to ‘follow the science’. If Imperial College was a football club they would be relegated if they didn’t go bankrupt first which I fear is the fate awaiting many football and National league clubs along with
their Scottish and Welsh brethren.
This is why I hate the transfer window
Not the window as such but the fact that it’s still open when the new season begins which is especially problematic when it comes to the art of forecasting. For instance, my predictions regarding Manchester Citeh and Liverpool were predicated on the assumption that Citeh would go out and purchase the world-class centre back they desperately need while also mitigating the loss of David Silva, at the time of writing neither signing has materialized. Liverpool meanwhile brought the superb Thiago Alcantara in to pep up their moribund midfield while also boosting their forward power bringing in Diogo Jota from Wolves. At this point I have to say that Liverpool are streets ahead of their main rivals for the title and unless Citeh address their failings sharpish that is where they will stay.
this is a somewhat unusual formation but quite frankly last week’s Premier League games brought us some of the worst defensive performances I’ve seen this side of Sunday league football. Allison Liverpool, James McCarthy Palace, Thiago Alcantara Liverpool, Harvey Barnes Leicester, Helder Costa Leeds, Andros Townsend Palace, Harry Kane Spurs, Dominic Calvert-Lewin Everton, Son Heung-Min Spurs, Aleksandar Mitrovic Fulham, Wilfried Zaha Palace. Manager Roy Hodgson Palace. Player of the week Harry Kane. Yes I’m biased but if I wasn’t going to give it to a player who scored one goal, had two others chalked off for alleged offside, and recorded four superb assists then I would have given it to the player who scored off every one of those assists, Son HeungMin.
This week’s games
Premier League today 12:30; Brighton vs United. 5pm; Palace vs Everton. 7:30; West Brom vs Chelsea. 10pm; Burnley vs
Southampton. Tomorrow 2pm; Sheffield United vs Leeds. 4pm; Spurs vs Newcastle. 6:30; Citeh vs Leicester. 9PM; West Ham vs Wolves. Monday 8pm; Fulham vs Villa. 10:15; Liverpool vs Arsenal. Selected Championship today 5pm; Derby vs Blackburn, QPR vs Middlesbrough, Watford vs Luton. Scotland tomorrow 2pm; Motherwell vs Rangers. 5pm; Celtic vs Hibs. (Yet another excuse for George Offord to wear a Hibs shirt)
F1 Russian Grand Prix tomorrow 2:10;
And finally
Last week’s question; connect the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and Manchester City. Ann Packer famously won the 800 metres in Tokyo then immediately retired at the age of 22 to marry 4x400 relay silver medalist Robbie Brightwell. The Brightwell’s went on to have three sons two of whom Ian and David would later play for Manchester City. There was a bonus question which asked readers to find the Rolling Stones song title which was hidden in last week’s column; the song was ‘Come On’ and it was to be found in the last two words of the final piece about Ian (Candy Man) Williams errant Rolling Stones logoed face mask. This week; Harry Kane did something no player had ever done in the Premier League when Spurs played Southampton last Sunday, what did he do?
As readers may have noticed I’ve attended a few funerals lately but I just had to laugh when one funeral goer told me he had gone out for some flowers before one of them and insisted that he wanted a young bunch that had yet to bloom so they would flourish at the grave, which is all fine and dandy but the problem was he told me this after he had dropped them on top of the coffin!