WHY SAY ANYTHING?

Back in the day there was a popular TV programme called Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased). The general storyline was that a couple of mates teamed up to open a detective agency only for one of the partners, (Marty Hopkirk), to get killed in the first episode.

It then transpires that his ghost will continue to help Geoff Randall to solve crimes and lock up the ungodly. Now here’s the rub. Geoff can actually see and communicate with Marty’s ghost and it doesn’t take too long for him to realise that he is the only person with this ability.

We here at WSA have been getting to know how it feels to be Geoff Randall for the last couple of years. We have been watching Manchester City with interest and have been amazed at how careless, clumsy and just downright poor Raheem Sterling has been.

Granted he scores a few goals but, then again, so do Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez and they have the added advantage of being vastly superior players to Sterling. Their close control is phenomenal in comparison to that of Sterling which, at times, is non-existent.

He constantly gives away possession, falls over or just plain bamboozles himself and the watching thousands with some of his dead-end runs which end up leading absolutely nowhere.

So how come he is constantly selected before them? Has he donated an organ to his manager? Is he married to one of Pep’s daughters? We don’t know the answer but it is a strange one.

This is the first “Geoff Randall experience” whereby it would appear that we are the only ones who can actually see all the mistakes he makes and are flabbergasted that City are even talking to him with regards to doubling his money, which is what he wants.

Obviously only we can see the real Raheem Sterling.

Our other “Geoff Randall experience” concerns Antonio Valencia. He is, at present anyway and certainly has been for quite a while, worse than average. In fairness he is being played in a position about which he hasn’t a clue and he has been given the club captaincy, another position about which he very obviously hasn’t a clue.

At a time when Manchester United need leaders, players who can shout and cajole and get others performing to their best and lead by example they give the captaincy to a non-English speaking, shy and retiring player who is long past his best and being played, as we said, out of position.

His idea of leading by example is to be continuously caught miles out of position, continuously be late into the tackle thereby conceding numerous free-kicks and continuously playing opponents onside due to his lack of positional sense.

Diogo Dalot – A definite upgrade on Antonio Valencia but only we can see it

United, like City with Sterling, have better replacements available to them. In their case they are actually specialist right-backs as opposed to ageing clueless wingers.

They have Matteo Darmian who was, when signed by Louis van Gaal, the Italian national right-back. They have Diogo Dalot, signed by Mourinho and a player who has already shown great promise. Yet, even with these internationals in the squad, it is Valencia who is selected first.

Why is this? We’ll tell you why. It is because, obviously, only we can see the real Antonio Valencia.

Please let us know if you also have supernatural powers and are able to see these two players in their true light or if, like many others, you need very strong glasses to cut through the rubbish they try and pass off as football.