WHY SAY ANYTHING?

If Alexis Sánchez makes his protracted move from Arsenal to Manchester United in time for Saturday’s match, and if he is selected, then he will kick off his new career in an away game at Turf Moor.

This, coincidentally, is the same game which saw United introduce Angel Di Maria to the Premier League and we all know how that one turned out.

As our long-standing readers will know, we were never advocates of the Argentinian being signed and always claimed he would be a problem and that he would fail. Ed Woodward, bless him, decided to act against our advice and purchased him anyway.

Being the magnanimous type we decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and watched for signs of the expected meltdown, whilst half hoping that it wouldn’t happen.

As everybody now knows, it did happen and Di Maria was shipped off to his first choice club, PSG.

Here’s what we said at the time.

 And here’s a bit more.

Now we don’t expect the same to happen with Sánchez although he can be quite a moody character.

The big difference between him and Di Maria is that he is a world-class player in the minds of most people whereas “The Noodle”, as he was known, was only world-class in his own mind.

So Sánchez will just knuckle down and get on with the job of being the best he can possibly be for his new club and we will be spared the histrionics witnessed during the short time Di Maria failed to grace the Premier League.

Another advantage Sánchez has is that he knows the English game very well by now and nothing will surprise or shock him.

Add to that the fact that he will be working with José Mourinho, a manager who can match his ambition, and a very successful few years is in the offing.

ANTONIO CONTE disagrees with VAR. Not entirely, you understand, but certainly on the occasion it failed to award his team a penalty.

Chelsea, very fortunately, beat Norwich City at Stamford Bridge 5-3 on penalties after drawing 1-1 in normal and extra time.

Having had two players sent off, both receiving two yellow cards and both receiving one of them for diving, you would think that the Italian would just be glad to have made it through to the next round.

Not Antonio, he had to have a go at the system because Willian had been refused a penalty when brought down by Klose.

It probably should have been a penalty, but it wasn’t given so move on.

These type of incorrect decisions happen in every division of football all over the world and will forever provide the fans with debate material for their after-match pints. No system will ever completely replace the referee and, as long as there is a human element to the arbitration of the game, there will always be bad decisions made.

In criticising the VAR system after his side had WON a game of football, Antonio Conte proved that there is little sportsmanship in the modern game.

He may have been right but VAR is in it’s infancy and should improve with experience. Berating it will not help it’s cause, particularly when it is used to cover up the obvious inadequacies in Chelsea’s current game.

The plain fact of the matter is that they were not good enough, over 210 minutes of football, to beat a team who are currently 13th in the Championship and it is this on which Antonio Conte should be focusing his frustration, not on the award or otherwise of a dubious penalty.

Here’s another couple of opinions on the subject, including that of the manic Alan Shearer

WILLIAN has been here a while and is just one letter away from having a very English name. Could he be joined by others in the near future? Possibly, because there is interest from Premier League clubs in the likes of Malcom, Fred and Alisson.

They may sound as though they should be presenting Blue Peter but they would, in truth, be welcome additions to our league.

Alisson may very well be capable of doing for Liverpool what Ederson has done for Manchester City and would probably be a cheaper option than either Oblak or Butland.

Talking of City, Fred is being given the once-over as a possible long term replacement for Fernandinho who is beginning to show signs of wear and tear.

Malcom is of interest to Stubborn Old Man as a replacement for Alexis Sánchez, or Mesut Özil, or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, or Theo Walcott or whoever is next in line, lifebelt in hand, to abandon ship.

So there you have it. As long as the Premier League is the richest in the world it will always attract some of the best players which means that it will remain the best league in the world, especially now that even some of the foreign players sound English!