End of an era?
LAST weekend Manchester United squeaked an undeserved win at Southampton in a game where Cristiano Ronaldo came off the bench in the 68th minute and for the next 22 minutes plus six minutes time added on contributed absolutely nothing. Even Mrs Walker (for her sins a United fan) noticed his lack of effort as he just trotted around in the middle of the park waiting for the ball to come to him. I get that he’s an outstanding scorer and admire his dedication to fitness after 20 years at the top, but can any team in these days of pressing football afford to carry a passenger?
Money for nothing
What do Manchester United, Spurs, Arsenal, and Chelsea have in common? During this transfer window they have all jettisoned their record transfer signings while getting zilch in return. £89million Paul Pogba went back to Juventus for the second time on a free transfer, the highly gifted but apathetic Tanguy Ndomble (£58million) left the Lane for Napoli, Romela Lukaku (£98million) skedaddled out of Chelsea and back into the loving embrace of Inter, while Nicholas Pepe (£72million) understandably departed the Socialist Republic of Islington for the sunny climes of Nice.
It can be fairly argued that not one of these very expensive acquisitions came anywhere near close to justifying their astronomical prices and wages, which just goes to show that (A) there’s no such thing as a sure thing in the transfer market and (B) there’s far too much wasted money in the English top flight.
Can’t see the forest for the trees
One of my favourite away days was the annual trip up the M1 to Nottingham, or to be more exact West Bridgeford. Win, lose or draw, the atmosphere at the City Ground was always one to savour, and the quality of the pubs and bars around Trent Bridge was and hopefully still is an absolute joy.
Last weekend Spurs won 2-0 at Forest in a game where Forest dominated possession without even remotely threatening to score. So far in this transfer window they’ve brought in 19 players for an outlay of circa £147 million, and it’s pretty obvious that the excellent Steve Cooper has his work cut out integrating that amount of players into a viable squad, but I hope he does, and sooner rather than later, because at times Forest’s buildup play was superb.
If they had a top striker and top class centre back things may well have been different last week, and if they fill those two gaping holes then they’ll be OK, as there are definitely worse teams than them in the division.
Team of the week
Dean Henderson Forest, Ben Davies Spurs, Davinson Sanchez Spurs, Dan Burn Newcastle, Aaron Cresswell West Ham, Ruben Neves Wolves, Bernardo Silva Citeh, Erling Haaland Citeh, Roberto Firmino Liverpool, Riyad Mahrez Citeh, Raheem Sterling Chelsea. Manager: Pep Guardiola. I know Guardiola is expected to win just about every game his team plays, but if he hadn’t brought Haaland in then Citeh wouldn’t have been able to come back from a two-goal deficit to see off Palace. Player of the week: despite Erling Haaland notching his first of no doubt many hat-tricks for Citeh, two goals and three assists for Roberto Firmino against Bournemouth will see the Brazilian take this particular bauble. I know it was only Bournemouth, but you can’t ignore those stats.
Speaking of which . . .
Scott Parker paid the price for his honest assessment of Bournemouth following that 9-0 defeat when he was sacked on Tuesday morning. All he said was that newly promoted Bournemouth aren’t equipped to compete in the Premier League and most, I would wager, would agree with him.
But it does seem a little harsh given that their last three
games have been against the two best sides in the country, plus the best side in the Socialist Republic of Islington.
The managers at Everton, Wolves, and Leicester must have been quaking in their boots as they were at the time below the Cherries in the table, while David Moyes and Steven Gerrard also had reasons for concern as they were on the same points as Parker’s former club.
As for the Saints’ Ralph Hassenhutl (he of two 9-0 defeats) how is he still in the job? Meanwhile, up in Sturgeon land Dundee United boss Jack Ross also had to walk after his side’s 9-0 defeat at home to Celtic. Is it short-termism? Probably, but the Arabs recent record even before Celtic came to town was pretty horrendous.
This week’s league games
Premier League today 2:30; Everton vs Liverpool. 5pm; Brentford vs Leeds, Newcastle vs Palace, Forest vs Bournemouth, Spurs vs Fulham, Wolves vs Southampton. 7:30; Villa vs Citeh. Tomorrow 4pm; Brighton vs Leicester, Chelsea vs West Ham. 6:30; United vs Arsenal.
Selected Championship Monday 10pm; Middlesbrough vs Sunderland. Friday 10pm; Burnley vs Norwich.
Selected Scotland today 2:30; Celtic vs Rangers. 5pm; Hibs vs Kilmarnock, St Johnstone vs Hearts.
Two rather obvious standout fixtures this weekend and they both kick off at the same time today guaranteeing an argument or two at various local hostelries.
My choice would be the Old Firm derby, which is guaranteed to be more watchable than the affair at Goodison, which usually disappoints from a neutral’s perspective.
I think the other games to watch are at Brentford, Spurs, and particularly Newcastle, where Allan Saint Maximin and Wilfried Zaha go head to head.
European footie
Champions League Tuesday 7:45; GNK Dynamo vs Chelsea. 10pm; Celtic vs Real Madrid, Seville vs Manchester City. Wednesday 7:45; Ajax vs Rangers. 10pm; Napoli vs Liverpool, Spurs vs Olympique Marseille.
Europa League Thursday 7:45; Hearts vs İstanbul Başakşehir. 10pm; Manchester United vs Real Sociedad. Europa Conference League Thursday 10pm; West Ham vs FCSB. (Who dey?)
Howzat!
2,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 not out, extras 7, total score nine all out.
That’s the scorecard for Elvaston CC’s fourth XI in their Derbyshire league match defeat against Risley CC’s second XI last week. So I guess Liverpool’s 9-0 win over Bournemouth and Celtic’s 9-0 win at Dundee United both last weekend can accurately be described as cricket scores.
F1
Dutch Grand Prix tomorrow 4pm. The Oranje will no doubt be out in force to watch their hero Max Verstappen stroll to another dominant win and sadly that’s just what I think will happen.
And finally
Last week’s question: there are three different song titles in this week’s column, name them. The titles were Midnight at the Oasis by Maria Muldaur, Rock the Kasbah by the Clash, and Money for Nothing by Dire Straits. This week: what connects the 1953 FA Cup final and Marilyn Monroe?
Oops almost forgot
For the benefit of Ron Copping, Thursday 9:30: Emmerdale, Eastenders. Europa League 7:45; FC Zurich vs Arsenal (tough choice which to watch).