WHY SAY ANYTHING?

So that’s the end of the international injury windows for this season. The next friendlies on the horizon are in June after the proper football has finished.

England signed off with a draw, at home, against Italy who couldn’t even qualify for this year’s World Cup. Quite why this gives the so-called experts such optimism for the tournament itself is a little baffling.

Our playground logic suggests to us that, if they can’t beat a team which DIDN’T qualify for the finals in Russia, at home, then what chance do they have of beating any of the ones who DID qualify and beat them on foreign soil to boot!

OK, so they managed to beat Holland, another non-qualifier, by a goal to nil and away from home. This probably explains the optimism as Holland then went on to beat Portugal 3-0 in Portugal. As we know, Cristiano and the gang have qualified and are the current European champions so, using our playground logic again, England are better than Portugal and should go further than they do at the World Cup.

This all goes a little way to demonstrating how difficult it can be trying to predict the outcome of football tournaments. Obviously, as previously proven, logic is not an option. It doesn’t work and the moment any logic is introduced into football forecasting then the game has a nasty habit of kicking back, usually in the teeth!

France beat Russia, in Russia, by 1-3 and Belgium strolled to a 4-0 victory over Saudi Arabia while Spain warmed up with a 6-1 thrashing of very poor Argentina. And, as if to prove that what happens in friendlies is rarely mirrored in real life, Brazil beat Germany in Germany 0-1. Now who would have thunk it?

With just one more round of meaningless friendlies to lull the coaches into thinking that their team is ready for the “greatest show on earth” we will soon be able to get down to the business of planning which games to watch and when, and working out who we will be cheering for once England are out.

Meanwhile, in the world of real football transfer rumours…..

According to the Guardian, amongst others no doubt, Manchester United are interested in Celtic’s Kieran Tierney. Essentially a left-back who can also play on the right and in the middle, it says here.

Just to further inform our information starved readers, most left footed players can play on the right and vice-versa, it isn’t quantum physics! It just means that they will cut inside 99% of the time so as to be on their favoured foot. It’s very obvious to opposing defenders so, unless the player happens to be Lionel Messi or Eden Hazard, it isn’t a majorly successful ploy.

This signing would surely spell the end for Luke Shaw who appears to have done something to upset his boss although nobody is saying what that might be. It also means that Ashley Young can, hopefully, be consigned to either the bench or the transfer list, we don’t really mind which one.

On the other side of Manchester, City are reported to be interested in signing Isco from Real Madrid because they haven’t got any tricky midfielders who can also play out wide. This one may happen as Zinedine Zidane is, again reportedly, looking to perform a major clear-out at the end of the season.

Liverpool may miss out on Alisson Becker, the Roma goalkeeper they should be interested in buying but probably aren’t. It seems with David De Gea about to stay at Manchester United then Real Madrid may turn to the Brazilian despite Thibaut Courtois continually stating his intention to return to Madrid at some stage.

Still, Jürgen Klopp has, in Darius Loris, found his number one and he may, if he turns out to be any good, save the club a small fortune. We don’t think so.

And finally…..

Stubborn Old Man is very quiet on the transfer front at present suggesting that there may be some truth in the rumour that Thomas Tuchel has signed a pre-contract agreement to take over for next season. Arsenal fans will be hoping that there is a lot of truth in the rumour!

Antonio conte is also very quiet at present, fuelling rumours that he won’t be at Stamford Bridge next season. Chelsea fans don’t really care either way as they have become used to changing manager every couple of years or less.

That only leaves Tottenham Hotspur of the “big six” still to be mentioned and Daniel Levy can’t really be bothered with that silly transfer business. He has much more important things on his mind. He has a new stadium to finish and, more importantly, he has to try and get the ticket pricing just right. He has to come up with a policy whereby he can rip-off the Spurs fans without them actually realising it. Up to now he is failing abysmally!