Oops he did it again
PEP Guardiola has been getting some serious stick after Manchester City’s latest Champions League disaster at Real Madrid the other week. To a degree it’s understandable, but does he really deserve all the opprobrium that has gone his way? Critics point to his poor Champions League record since leaving Barcelona and given that he’s failed to win the trophy with the richest club in Germany and the pre-Newcastle richest club in England, it’s fair to say that he’s underachieved somewhat but, as ever with this kind of debate, there are often mitigating factors in play such as poor refereeing decisions, injuries, and probably, most important of all, good oldfashioned luck.
Yes, he’s tended to overthink when it comes to the Champions League, but how he can be knocked for the Madrid result when his team played the perfect game for 90 minutes is beyond me. Sometimes things just happen and there’s very little that can be done about it.
And so did he
Jürgen Klopp is without a doubt a great manager, but when things don’t go his way he’s also a great whinger, as we saw again when he slammed Antonio Conte’s Spurs tactics in their 1-1 draw at Anfield last week. Apparently he doesn’t like it when a “world class” team refuses to go toe to toe with the Reds and says he could “never play that way”.
Well good for him, though the fact that Spurs were actually only stopped from taking all three points by a wicked deflection for Liverpool’s goal seemed to have passed him by, along with the fact that the teams had the same amount of shots on target in the game, with Spurs’ chances actually being the better ones.
As for “playing that way”, how does he explain that since Conte rocked up at the Lane Klopp’s swashbuckling go-for-it Reds have been outscored by Spurs in the league 51 to 38?
He also may want to consider that but for Spurs inflicting two defeats on Manchester City this season (Liverpool could only draw both their games) the title would already be at the Etihad rather than still up in the air.
Dodgy?
Arsenal 2-1 Leeds: not a particularly surprising score but it seems that there was a lot of spot betting on Arsenal’s Eddie Nketia scoring and Leeds’s Luke Ayling being sent off. The odds on this wager were around 1751 and lo and behold Nketia scored and Ayling was red carded for a pointless two-footed challenge.
It’s not for me to say that something wasn’t right, but it’s not the first time a fixture involving the North London Nomads has attracted scrutiny over the years.
Team of the week
Jordan Pickford Everton, Marc Cucurella Brighton, Christian Romero Spurs, Ben Davies Spurs, Vitaliy Mykolenko Everton, Kevin De Bruyne Citeh, Rodri Citeh, Pascal Gross Brighton, Emiliano Buendia Villa, Said Benrahma West Ham, Son Heung-min Spurs. Manager: Frank Lampard Everton. Credit where it’s due, two big wins have given the Toffees hope in their battle to avoid relegation. Player of the week: Jordan Pickford Everton – and if they do avoid the drop, it’ll likely be down to their much-maligned keeper, who has been sensational over the last couple of games.
Games to watch
FA Cup final today 6:45 Chelsea vs Liverpool; Premier League tomorrow 2pm; Spurs vs Burnley. 4pm; Villa vs Palace, Leeds vs Brighton, Watford vs Leicester, West Ham vs Citeh, Wolves vs Norwich. 6:30; Everton vs Brentford. Monday 10pm; Newcastle vs Arsenal.
Tuesday 9:45; Southampton vs Liverpool. Thursday 9:45; Everton vs Palace. 10pm; Villa vs Burnley, Chelsea vs Leicester.
Championship play-offs semi-final first leg today 5pm; Sheffield United vs Forest. Second legs Monday 9:45; Huddersfield vs Luton. Tuesday 9:45; Forest vs Sheffield United. League Two play-offs first legs today 9:45; Mansfield vs Northampton. Tomorrow 2pm; Swindon vs Port Vale. Second legs Wednesday 9:45; Northampton vs Mansfield. Thursday 9:45; Port Vale vs Swindon. Selected Scotland today 2:15; Celtic vs Motherwell, Hearts vs Rangers,
Ross County vs Dundee United.
Game of the week: Europa League final Wednesday 10pm, Eintracht Frankfurt vs Rangers. Coming from a town with a large Scottish diaspora, my Celtic-supporting family had a great many friends who followed Rangers and, unlike in Glasgow, there was no animosity between the two camps, who were only too happy to socialise together.
This admirable attitude extended to each club’s European adventures, so I will say without hesitation that I hope Rangers prevail in Seville.
It won’t be easy, but I would argue that their wins over Borussia Dortmund and Red Bull Leipzig show that they have nothing to fear from yet more German opposition, with the caveat being that those wins were over two legs and this of course is a one and done game. Plus a win will cheer George Offord up given the concession of the SPL title to Celtic.
And finally
Last week’s question: which club holds the all-time record for promotions to the top division of English football? The obvious answer would have been good old Norwich, who have stepped up nine times in their history, but the honour goes to England’s second city, where Birmingham have done the deed a dozen times, including during their infancy as Small Heath.
Bonus: what two feats has Carlo Ancelotti recently accomplished? The man who ended last season at Goodison Park went on to recently win La Liga with Real Madrid, making him the only manager to win the league title in all five of Europe’s top leagues: Serie A with Juventus, the Bundesliga with Bayern, Ligue Un with PSG and, of course, the Premier League with Chelsea. The other feat was of course becoming the only manager to take a club to five Champions League finals: three times with AC Milan (two wins plus the miracle in Istanbul) and now twice with Real Madrid (one win and . . ?)
This week: an easy one, Alf Garnet and Terry McCann supported West Ham and Fulham respectively, but who did Warren Mitchell and Dennis Waterman support?
Seriously?
It’s a well-known fact that Arsenal fans have never had a song to call their own, other than Good Old Arsenal, written by that top songster Jimmy Hill, but now it seems they finally have a ditty they can claim. The lyrics go: “North London forever whatever the weather, These streets are our own and my heart will leave you never, The Arsenal forever will be our home.”
Mikel Arteta calls it “inspirational’ while also saying “it’s our You’ll Never Walk Alone”.
What do I think? Well the last time I looked, Plumstead and Woolwich were in South London and the heirs to Rodgers and Hammerstein won’t be losing any sleep over the usurping of their forebears’ classic song, otherwise pass the projectile vomiting bag. (Can’t wait (not) to hear Ron Copping belting this out at the karaoke.)