What Evra were you thinking...
Antonio Conte has already achieved what many thought impossible at Chelsea. The Blues were sensational against Everton last weekend, with John Terry on the bench. A successful team without JT? Yes, judging by that performance.
from any flak. After all, the reflected glory is theirs, having secured the appointment in the first place. And the summer’s transfer activity was ordered and sensible.
No one in the recruitment office was thumbing through a French dictionary to work out a translation for ‘Welcome to Newcastle, bonny lad.’
All of a sudden, those black and white shirts are fully engaged. Good results are being clocked up with alarming regularity.
So, thanks very much Senor Benitez. Thanks a sodding lot.
You’ve taken away the one week when anything went.
When the rest of the country could open up these pages and smile at the latest dollop of chaos. They can’t any more. Thanks to Benitez, the sun is breaking through the clouds again on Tyneside, giving us all a glimpse of what a fantastic asset to English football Newcastle United could be.
And, seriously, amen to that. WHAT is it with footballers and social media? This week, ex-Manchester United hero – and current France international – Patrice Evra was pictured pouting while wearing a women’s wig, explaining the motives behind different “selfies” taken by the fairer sex. Couldn’t he just have used pictures of the ladies concerned, instead, to illustrate the point, rather than actually pose himself? Of course, footballers still have plenty of time on their hands. In the old days, they spent it drinking, gambling and/or playing away from home. Surely all of those pastimes – within reason – are preferable to donning a syrup and acting the idiot.