Ends justifying means

THE last action before Christmas had a dogged Everton side earn a point against Chelsea at Goodison in a game that saw the Londoners dominate for quite literally the entire match and register 25 shots without scoring.

Now OK, a point against the current champions isn’t too shabby, but the manner in which it was won raised some fundamental questions for anyone concerned with the “integrity” of the world’s “favourite” league.

In this game Everton registered zero shots on target and showed no ambition other than to defend in depth throughout. If this was a one-off then fair enough, but all too often when the 14 clubs outside the top six play their supposed superiors then it becomes the norm. I can understand clubs not wishing to open up and get hammered, but long term this outlook damages the credibility of the Premier League.

At Spurs we’re used to the opposition playing this way when they come to London and fair enough as it’s up to the Lilywhites to break them down. I do have a big problem, though, when these clubs adopt those tactics on their home grounds, as the Toffees did in the Chelsea game and Newcastle did just last week against Citeh. Did the Toon have a realistic chance of beating Citeh? Probably not but if I was one of their fantastic supporters I would have liked them to have a go, as Palace did against the same opposition at Selhurst a couple of days later. But then I’m a football romantic, so what do I know.

Enough already, this is getting beyond ridiculous

Last weekend’s fixture list originally had Spurs hosting West Ham on the Saturday then Sky exercised its right to move fixtures and the game was rescheduled for Sunday. But hold on a mo: first off we had Transport For London saying that they couldn’t move 80,000 around north London on New Year’s Eve, then the Met weighed in saying that they hadn’t got the manpower to police the game leading to Wembley’s Safety Advisory Committee cutting the permitted attendance to 43,000.

The sensible option would have been to revert back to the original day and time but again the powers that be intervened, which is how both Spurs and West Ham kicked off at 8pm on Thursday some 46 hours after Spurs had played in Swansea and the Hammers had hosted West Brom, who themselves had played two days previously. Madness doesn’t begin to describe this situation.

Dead man walking

A sadly inevitable consequence of the Christmas and New Year fixture pile-up was that some managers would prioritise certain games above others and play weakened teams in “unwinnable” matches and their first-choice selections in “winnable” clashes. The prime example being Mark Hughes, who decided to throw in the youngsters at Chelsea in the belief that three points could be more easily attained at home to Newcastle two days later. The only problem is that having made the decision and duly going down 5-0 at the Bridge, the Potters then lost 1-0 to the Magpies leaving Hughes, who was already on rocky ground at Stoke, in real danger of the sack. He’s not the first manager to play the priority game and he won’t be the last, but like some of the others who went down in flames, he may well pay the ultimate price.

Quote of the festive season

It’s: “£300 million, not enough.” Jose Mourinho’s response following United’s 2-2 draw at home to Burnley. The actual question had been about the home defence’s habit of conceding soft goals, all the while watching Citeh disappear over the horizon at the top of the table. He clarified his answer when stating that Citeh “buy full-backs for the price of strikers”, while he of course spent a shedload of dosh on Romela Lukaku who is allegedly a real striker, Nemanja Matic (midfielder) and Victor Lindelof (defender) in the summer.

It has to be said that while United’s spend under Mourinho isn’t ever going to intimidate Citeh, £300 million should see him put out a side able to vanquish the Burnleys of this world, particularly at the Theatre of Dreams.

While whose fault can it be that Lukaku was once again the provider of a goal for the opposition? I said it after the Belgian gifted Citeh the points last month and I’ll say it again: Romela Lukaku should never be allowed within 30 yards of his own goal.

‘Did he really say that?’ quote of the festive season

“He sees what he wants to see.” Arsene Wenger on referee Mike Dean after he gave a controversial penalty for West Brom against Arsenal. Personally I thought it was a poor decision, but of all people to accuse another of seeing what he wants to see? Pots and kettles come to mind.

‘If he’d really said it’ quote of the festive season

“How can we compete with Southampton? Look how much money Liverpool have given them in recent years.” Not said by Jose Mourinho after Southampton followed up their five-goal thrashing against Spurs with a 0-0 draw at United.

Speaking of which

On the subject of spending oodles of dosh, Liverpool finally got their man when they signed Virgil Van Dijk from Southampton for a fee in the region of £75 million, this brings Liverpool’s total investment in six Southampton players to a cool £180 million. Trophies won to this point = 0.

Holiday winners

Jordan Pickford, Everton; Joe Gomez, Liverpool; Harry Maguire, Leicester; Cesar Azpilicueta, Chelsea; Kevin De Bruyne, Citeh; Riyad Mahrez, Leicester; Harry Kane, Spurs; Dele Alli, Spurs; Roberto Firmino, Liverpool; Mo Salah, Liverpool; Raheem Sterling, Citeh. Manager: Mauricio Pochettino, Spurs.

Holiday losers

Crystal Palace’s Scott Dann and Jason Puncheon, who are possibly both out for a year with cruciate ligament injuries after fouling Kevin De Bruyne during Palace’s draw with Citeh. A heavy price to pay indeed.

Best game

Arsenal 2-2 Chelsea — marvellously entertaining, all action, and proof if there was ever any doubt that Harry Kane is the best striker in London.

Games to watch

FA Cup third-round selected fixtures — today: 2.45pm Fleetwood v Leicester; 3pm Middlesbrough v Sunderland; 5pm Coventry v Stoke, Exeter v West Brom, Fulham v Southampton, Citeh v Burnley, Newcastle v Luton, Watford v Bristol City, Wolves v Swansea; 7.30pm Norwich v Chelsea. Tomorrow: 2pm Newport v Leeds; 4pm Shrewsbury v West Ham; 5pm Spurs v AFC Wimbledon; 6pm Forest v Arsenal. Monday: 9.45pm Brighton v Palace. League Cup semi-final first leg — Tuesday: 9.45pm Citeh v Bristol City. Wednesday: 10pm Chelsea v Arsenal.

And finally

Last edition’s question: “Pep Guardiola’s Citeh now hold the record (currently 18) for the most successive wins in the Premier League, but which managers hold the equivalent records in Spain’s La Liga and Germany’s Bundesliga?” I have to admit I was being a bit smart on this one, as more than one reader pointed out. Anyway, with 16 straight wins in Spain, Barcelona rule the roost, while Bayern’s 19 on the bounce takes the Teutonic honours. Both sides were of course managed during their record runs by . . . Pep Guardiola.

This week: which club has supplied the most England captains? And which club has supplied the most England players?

I know you can expect to see some fairly unpalatable sights over Christmas and New Year . . . but Laughing Bill with red nails?

Speaking of things unpalatable, I’d like to thank Steve Male for making me and others celebrate New Year’s Day by sitting through Bolton v Hull. That’s a couple of hours of my life that I’ll never see again.