Ole new ball game

THE smile has all but gone, the furrows are increasing... and today Pep Guardiola will pray the Saints don’t seek a cruel, divine retribution in the full glare of the TV cameras.

There will be dark forebodings at St Mary’s because, in all the time Pep has been a coach – going back 12 years – he has never lost more than six league games in a season.

The six he did lose were in his first season in charge of Citeh – when he won zilch. And, more worryingly for him, he has already lost half that number so far this campaign. And to think that, even at the start of this month, some people were speaking confidently about the Blues being invincible and unstoppable.

Don’t forget Saints – under new boss Ralph Hasenhuttl – will also be looking for payback after his side were thrashed 6-1 at the Etihad.

In an unwitting coincidence, the TV schedulers are rubbing their hands and serving up a surfeit of Mancunian offerings – at a time when Pep has lost his pep and Ole is

going, er, olé as he wins match after match. It’s as if the gods of football had looked down and ordained that the state of affairs be turned on its head – with the beneficiaries in red.

Citeh play today, so do United

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United play Newcastle away on Wednesday; Citeh play Liverpool on Thursday and United play Reading in the FA Cup on Saturday (

A truly Manctastic week.