Player Power Fails Spectacularly But Has It Changed Anything At All?

Posted: September 3, 2017 in Arsenal, Chelsea, European Football, Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur, Transfers
Tags: , , ,
0

dMGuswp

(The players may wear the shirts but the owners and chairmen are proving, for the moment at least, that THEY wear the trousers!)

Riyad Mahrez, Alexis Sánchez, Virgil van Dijk and Philippe Coutinho. All players who, in order to try and force a move away from their clubs, handed in a transfer request.

Also all world class players who would be welcome in most teams so why is it that, as the transfer window slid shut on Thursday night, they all remained at their clubs.

There are a few reasons but the overriding feeling is one that player power has been defeated, on this occasion at least. Read the rest of this entry »

Who Didn’t Get What They Wanted For Transfermas?

Posted: September 2, 2017 in Arsenal, Chelsea, European Football, Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur, Transfers
Tags: , , , ,
2

football-stadium-background-7

(All targets for top clubs who failed to sign any of them!)

In general the top six did some pretty reasonable transfer business. Manchester United and City both spent fortunes and got the majority of their signings in early. Liverpool also managed to bring in most of the players they wanted.

Tottenham Hotspur had a good final day and only Arsenal and Chelsea could be said to have failed abysmally at getting their targets through the door.

There were, however, some very good players who stayed exactly where they were, sometimes through good management from their clubs and sometimes through rank bad management from the club trying to buy them. Here’s some of the big names that the top six missed out on: Read the rest of this entry »

Who Did Your Team Get For Transfermas?

Posted: September 1, 2017 in Arsenal, Chelsea, European Football, Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Transfers
Tags: , , ,
0

IMG_1996

(Bald man looks at big screen, aided by big writing and big pictures as well as a tablet, for instructions on what to do next and still doesn’t know!)

So that’s it then! It’s over for another year. Football’s version of Christmas Day came and went with/without a bang depending upon which is your team of choice.

There is, of course, another minor present-giving period in January at which time delusional club owners and chairmen will get another opportunity to buy lavish gifts for their spoiled brat managers, but that is more akin to a birthday rather than the main event.

Sky Sports News had excited reporters at every Premier League ground from 6.00 am just in case anything happened. They were not looking quite so excited when the clock struck 11.00 pm. You do, however, have to admire their optimism if not the ridiculous amounts of taxpayers subscription fees that this exercise must have wasted! Read the rest of this entry »

What Would The Signings Of Gareth Bale And Alexis Sánchez Bring To Manchester United And Manchester City?

Posted: August 31, 2017 in Arsenal, Chelsea, European Football, Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
Tags: , , ,
1

60f4daa2bc662a7a225f53c472ede865

José Mourinho has said all along that he wanted four players during this transfer window. He also said, all along, that he would be happy with three. Now we would never accuse Mourinho of anything so crass as lying but we do think he has been economical with the truth.

The, “three is OK” statement even sounds a little forced, as if designed to make Dithering Ed Woodward realise that he still hasn’t delivered on all of his manager’s requested signings. If Mourinho is genuinely happy with three then why does he keep reminding anyone who will listen that he originally asked for four. Read the rest of this entry »

England Expects, Though Nobody Knows Quite What To Expect!

Posted: August 30, 2017 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, International Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Transfers
Tags: , , ,
0

IMG_1992

(A horrible kit and a bad team, what could possibly go wrong?)

On Friday morning the transfer window will have closed. We will be at the very beginning of an international break meaning Premier League football, along with the world as we know it, will have come to a halt.

For nearly a fortnight, publications such as ourselves will have to write articles about England or first and second division clubs, (not that there’s much difference in quality).

Either that, or those same publications will have to find interesting and original topics with which to fill their pages so that the greater good can continue being served. Read the rest of this entry »

Transfer Windows And International Breaks. Why Bother With A Premier League Season At All?

Posted: August 29, 2017 in Arsenal, Chelsea, European Football, Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
Tags: , , ,
0

IMG_1988

Why don’t we extend the transfer window so that it covers the months in between August and May? The excitement produced by this innovative move would mean that we could scrap the Premier League entirely.

Every four years there would be a World Cup and in the alternate two years there would be the European Championships. Friendly internationals and qualifiers could then be played all year round without that pesky Premier League interfering.

There would still be a need for the clubs because they would have to produce players for the international teams, pay them and help them recover from injury, they just wouldn’t have to take part in any silly tournaments where they may also get injured or suspended. Read the rest of this entry »

Chelsea Win, Arsenal Are Thrashed, While Tottenham Can Only Manage A Draw At White Hart Wembley (So The Real Winners Reside In Manchester, As Usual)

Posted: August 28, 2017 in Arsenal, Chelsea, European Football, Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
Tags: , , ,
0

IMG_1990

Following on from our article yesterday in which we implied that Manchester United and Manchester City were waiting for London to catch up as usual. Well, with the exception of Chelsea, they are still waiting.

Chelsea beat a lacklustre Everton who, having played away at Manchester City last Monday then away in Croatia on Thursday looked as though they were feeling the effects of a tiring week.

This would be no consolation to Manchester City fans who will bemoan the fact that they got them at the beginning of the week when they were fresh and motivated. So, a bit of luck there for Chelsea. Read the rest of this entry »

City And United Both Win As Manchester Waits For London To Catch Up, (As Usual)

Posted: August 27, 2017 in Arsenal, Chelsea, European Football, Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
Tags: , , ,
1

Mike Dean is recognised as a top referee. He is awarded many of the pivotal games in the Premier League. What is less well known is which team he actually supports.

Well, all can now be revealed because, on the evidence of the game at The Vitality stadium, he is a Bournemouth fan. Having spurned two very good, (and obvious), opportunities to send off Bournemouth players he eventually sent off Raheem Sterling for celebrating a goal!

It seems that, with Mike in charge, players are more likely to be sent off for a non-sending-off offence than for one which would merit that punishment. Read the rest of this entry »

Manchester United And Manchester City Need To Improve On Last Season, The Rest Of The Top Six Need To Improve On THIS Season!

Posted: August 25, 2017 in Arsenal, Chelsea, European Football, Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur
Tags: , , ,
1

Wallpapers-room_com___Coloured_05_by_skymax2k_1680x1050

After only two games of the new season we are already into the debate about who will finish in the top six, who will win the title and who will be relegated.

Whilst these are fair questions it is a little early to provide any concrete answers just yet. What we can do, however, is check the evidence we have so far and then do what the national press do all the time, indulge in wild speculation.

The advantage here is that, if we are right, we can say that we told you so and, if we are wrong then it was only wild speculation anyway and never intended to be taken seriously. That would seem to be a no-lose situation which is just the kind we like. Read the rest of this entry »

Wayne Rooney Displays His Usual Petulance Yet Again

Posted: August 25, 2017 in Arsenal, Chelsea, England, Football, International Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Wayne Rooney
Tags: , , , ,
8

IMG_1968

As regular readers will no doubt be aware, we cannot be numbered among Wayne Rooney’s greatest fans. With this in mind we had decided, a while ago, not to give him any more press having concluded that he was already one of the most talked about footballers in existence and a lot of what was being said about him was, in our opinion, overrating him far more than was necessary and even more than he was overrating himself!

His latest act of unwarranted petulance has, however, forced us temporarily out of retirement on the subject of the hard-to-like scouser. Just as one of his chapters comes to an end, we begin a new one.

As we have said all along, he has been a good footballer in his two short spells at Everton and his thirteen years at Manchester United, but he never achieved the greatness many misguided people thought he would. Read the rest of this entry »

Older Entries
Newer Entries