Lots to get through, very little of it is enjoyable so I’ll just grit my teeth and dive straight in.
City beat Sheffield United and I have nothing to say about it as I’m still boycotting all of their games until further notice.
So I’ll start at Goodison where under pressure Steve Bruce picked up a much needed three points against the Blueshite. The Geordies really seem to have it in for ol’ Brucey but has he really been that bad? They were doing ok this season until Covid hit them and they lost some key players.
They’re getting everyone fully fit again now so I expect their results to pick up. They’ve got some good players there in attack but Bruce clearly doesn’t trust the defence and midfield enough to open up. So they play negatively and look to hit on the break. With Saint-Maximin on the pitch they can do that. Take him away and they lose an awful lot.
Wilson’s a good striker and he ran Everton ragged. He hit the bar with a powerful header, hit the post with a little clipped shot, shot just wide after a boss counter attack and then scored two late goals to win the game.
As for Everton, I’ve been telling you all season they’re fucking shit. Because they are. The league table is lying it’s bollocks off at the moment but come May they’ll be 8th or 9th where they belong.
Bad week for Southampton. They lost to Villa in contentious circumstances and then had their pants pulled down at Old Trafford. A key element of both losses was VAR.
They were denied a penalty against Villa when Cash blocked a goalbound shot from Armstrong with his arm. The set up from Ings was spectacular and that deserved a goal. It didn’t get one because Cash stopped it with his arm. It wasn’t given because the ball brushed off his thigh first. This isn’t what that rule was brought in for. That has to be a penalty, surely?
Villa went ahead with a Barkley header after a superb Grealish cross but Southampton peppered their goal after that but just couldn’t score. Eventually they did, in stoppage time, but VAR gave it offside. Another one of those horrific ones that they could just as easily have given as a goal if they moved the line another inch or two the other way. Fuck this shit. Nobody wants a world in which that is offside.
Say what you like about Grealish (and God knows I have) but he’s exactly the kind of player you want to unlock a packed defence. He can beat people, he can pass, he can cross, he can shoot, he can win free-kicks and pens (ok, he wouldn’t be able to do that if he played for us), he’s just developed into a top class player. He’d be incredible in our team, but even if we wanted him we couldn’t afford him now.
Chalk this one down as another game completely fucking ruined by VAR though. Of all the shitty things VAR has brought to the game one of the worst has to be the way it has led to all common sense being removed from the game. So many decisions you see that are technically correct but morally just fucking shambolic and not in the spirit the game was intended to be.
That was a penalty and it wasn’t offside. Stick your fucking rewritten rulebook up your hoop, anyone who knows football knows those decision were a joke. The fact they were correct tells you that the game is completely broken right now.
It turns out that having every decision correct by the letter of the law actually kills the game. It’s not what the game needs and there has to be room for some interpretation and common sense on certain decisions. It’s not a black and white game like, say, tennis or golf. There are grey areas. Or at least there should be.
West Brom v Fulham was a surprisingly decent game. Fulham should have won easily but in the end they needed
Decordova-Reid latched onto a Mitrovic pass to give them an early lead. He nearly made it 2-0 in similar fashion but his shot came off the foot of the post. Really unlucky. He’s been a revelation since Parker converted him to a wing back.
Lookman thought he should have had a pen when he was challenged by Ajayi. He got his shot away and it was saved, and when that happens it gives the refs all the excuse they need to give nothing.
It was one way traffic in the first half but two minutes after the break it was 1-1 when the Baggies got a scabby equaliser from a deflected cross that was well converted by Bartley.
Pereira made it 2-1 and suddenly Fulham were staring at defeat in a game they’d dominated. Cavaleiro levelled with a diving header but this was a game they should have won.
Fulham are better than I gave them credit for and I’d like to see them stay up. Scott ‘Scotty’ Parker seems like he knows what he’s doing. Turns out Chelsea hired the wrong ex-midfielder a couple of years ago, because he’s clearly more clued up than Fat Frank.
Arsenal and United played out a drab 0-0 draw at the Emirates and I have nothing more to say on that as I didn’t watch any of it.
A lovely finish by Eze gave Palace the points against Wolves. He dropped the shoulder on the edge of the box to give himself room and then laced one in with his left foot.
Zaha should have made it 2-0 late on when he tied Conor Coady in knots but hit the bar
That Fabio Silva is a weird one. He cost a fortune and he’s really highly rated, but he doesn’t ‘look’ like a young superstar footballer. I don’t mean how he plays, I just mean his face, hair and general demeanour.
He’s the science geek you see in movies. The kid with the backpack. The one who the jocks will trip up in the canteen and he’ll end up on the floor covered in mashed potato and everyone will be laughing at him. Everyone except for the lead cheerleader that is.
She thinks it’s cruel and feels sorry for him. She’s dating the main jock and she gives him a piece of her mind and says he needs to grow up and leave the kid alone. Fabio Silva thanks her, sheepishly, and then gets out of there as quickly as he can.
You know, I bet Adama bullies the shit out of him at the training ground.
Anyway, yeah. Another loss for Wolves while Palace just keep on doing what they do every year - just enough.
It was a decent enough weekend for us with United dropping points and Everton and Leicester losing.
Leicester were without Vardy but actually went ahead against Leeds with an absolutely brilliant goal from Barnes. He’s got 11 for the season now. Not bad that.
Leeds equalised with a lovely goal of their own as my boy Bamford played in Dallas to score. That Ayoze Perez loser thought he’d restored Leicester’s lead but he was offside, the big fucking loser.
Leeds then had one ruled out for offside too. My boy hit the bar with a towering header but Klich was a yard offside when he put in the rebound.
Leeds were playing some lovely stuff and Bamford set Raphinha in on goal only for Schmeichel to deny him. If you want a job doing properly sometimes you need to do it yourself, and my boy did just that when instead of playing someone else in on goal he just lashed one across goal into the top corner instead.
Glorious finish. He’s such an elegant player and some of his goals this season have been sensational. He create them too though and he turned provider once again for the third goal when he raced clear and unselfishly squared for Harrison.
Leeds just seem to win one then lose one then win one then lose one. You never know what you’re going to get from them but you know it won’t be boring.
Unlike Spurs. Win lose or draw those fuckers are always dull these days. And without Kane that’s only going to get worse. Gareth Bale was given a rare start at Brighton but he just looks completely finished now.
He either can’t run or he’s so worried about injuries he won’t let himself risk going full throttle. He’s largely pointless at the moment. Doesn’t do anything except pick up a fat wage. Injuries are such a bastard, they can completely ruin players. Bale is reminding me of Sturridge.
Brighton played well and were full value for the points. Young Nigel Farage got the only goal of the game by converting a cross by Gross. They could have scored more and it needed a miraculous goal-line block by Alderweireld to deny Connolly late on.
Tuchel got his first win as Chelsea boss with a really strong performance against Burnley. Chelsea dominated and created a load of chances. They only took two of them but it was enough.
Both goals came from Spanish full backs. Azpilacueta opened the scoring just before half time and Alonso wrapped it up with a goal just before full time.
The main thing holding them back was Lampard. I don’t particularly think Tuchel is anything great, but with the talent in that squad he doesn’t need to be. Competent should be enough to have Chelsea competing near the top spots again.
Wolves finally got a win but they needed a big helping hand from Arsenal, who shot themselves in both feet. They blew a one goal lead and ended up playing with only nine men. Arsenal gonna Arsenal.
Saka thought he’d given them the lead but Lacazette was correctly adjudged to be offside in the build up. They’d started well though and Saka had hit the post in the first minute. Pepe then hit the bar and Wolves were hanging on desperately.
The goal was coming and Pepe eventually smuggled his way past a couple of defenders and found the far corner. Arsenal looked on their way to an easy win but then David Luiz conceded a pen and was given a red card.
We’ve seen that so many times over the years but this time I don’t think he did anything wrong. The contact was completely accidental and if anything he’s desperately trying to avoid it. Its the back of the Wolves striker’s heel that catches Luiz on the knee.
I don’t even think it’s a penalty but you can give that either way really. The red card is a fucking scandal though. Again, that’s not what that law is for. It’s supposed to be for cynical, professional fouls that deny a goalscoring opportunity. There’s nothing cynical or intentional about that, and you can argue it wasn’t even a foul. There’s nothing Luiz can do to avoid that, because he actually did everything he could to avoid it.
I’m really fucking annoyed over that decision even though I don’t have a dog in that race. I don’t care if Arsenal lose but decisions like that are a big reason why footy is becoming proper shit these days. That’s just morally not a red card in a million years, but the cunts will hide behind ‘letter of the law’ as usual.
Neves scored from the spot and all of Arsenal’s prior good work was undone just like that. Moutinho made it 2-1 with a 30 yard screamer and any hope Arsenal had of getting back into went when Leno was sent off for one of the more bizarre incidents you’ll ever see. Just what the actual fuck was he doing?
Sheffield United won again. Huge three points for them considering they were up against West Brom, one of the teams they need to catch. Phillips poked the Baggies ahead but Bogle levelled before Billy Sharp got the winner. Could they pull off the greatest of escapes? Ian Wright tipped them to do it last week. I can’t see it, but at least they haven’t quit.
Newcastle followed up a good win at Goodison with a bad loss to Palace at St James’ despite getting off to a dream start when with only a minute on the clock Shelvey scored from 20 yards. They joy was short lived. Riedewald smashed in an equaliser soon after and Cahill quickly headed Palace into a 2-1 lead. Both sides had chances but Palace held on fairly easily.
City won again in midweek but I’ll say no more about that other than “fuck Burnley”. They’ve been dogshit in both games since beating us. It’s always the way. Watch Brighton do fuck all for the next couple of weeks now.
The Mancs scored nine and I haven’t seen any of them and hopefully never will. Prior to the game the goblin had complained about decisions that went against them last week. For most teams that just means they'll get shafted again as the refs close ranks. United aren't most teams though. They were rewarded with an outrageous penalty for a clear dive (I can comment on that because I saw that incident on Twitter), two opposing players being sent off and a scandalous offside decision that chalked off a Southampton goal.
They almost certainly wouldn’t have needed all of those favours but they got them anyway, and probably a written apology from PGMOL and an assurance it won't happen again. The penalty and sending off for Bednarak was such a disgrace that it was overturned on appeal. Disgusting that, because the officials on duty already watched the video of it at the time and upheld the decision!!! And let's not forget what a colossal cunt Martial is, diving in the box when they're 6-0 up with a few minutes left.
If it has been overturned then surely the VAR fella needs sanctioning, as does Dean as he also looked at the screen and still stuck with the wrong decision. None of these cunts are fit for purpose. None of them. They’re all shite. Fuck them all.
Southampton are considering launching a formal complaint against Mike Dean and Lee Mason. I’d advise against it. You can only pull shit like that if you’re Man United. Anyone else ends up getting punished even more harshly.
Meanwhile, West Ham are hot on our heels again (what depressing sentence that is) after a good win over Villa. Soucek set them on their way (of course he did) but for once it wasn’t a header from a set-piece. It was a good low finish after he broke ahead of the strikers. That Lingard tool then added a couple of goals, with an Olly Watkins strike sandwiched in between them.
So once again they’re just two points behind. This is the thing that is so hard to stomach. Teams that we’re clearly vastly superior to and have shown when we’ve played them (Leicester, West Ham, Everton) are either above or just behind us. This is what happens when you don’t beat the bottom six though.
Everton won at Leeds. Close game, could have gone either way. Sigurdsson and Calvert-Lewin put the Blues in charge but my boy teed up Raphinha to pull one back and Leeds battered them after that but couldn’t find a way past Olsen, who had been preferred to Pickford. Hopefully that's not a permanent thing.
Leicester got back to winning ways at Craven Cottage. That Iheanacho cunt got the opener when he headed in a Maddison cross and then Justin made it 2-0 with a lovely goal. Great play by Iheanacho and Maddison to set him up and he finished it well. Some of Leicester's football was brilliant to be fair.
Finally, Chelsea won 1-0 at Spurs but it really wasn’t as close as that as they were comfortable throughout. They’re four points back of us now and of all the sides around us they’re by far the biggest threat now that they have an actual manager and not some big fat pretender.
I’m officially concerned about Chelsea now. I’m not at red alert yet, it’s probably yellow. If that gets below four points then bump it up to amber.
Things can change quickly though. It only seems like a few weeks ago that Spurs were top and now look at them. If they’re not careful they’re gonna finish below Arsenal. Spurs without Kane is like football without fans. Shit.
There have been so many away wins this season (even more than home wins currently) and to me it’s almost certainly about fans not being there. I’ve seen other theories but that’s just overthinking it. Home advantage is 90% about having more of your fans in the stadium than the oppositions. Take that away and there isn’t any advantage.
It’s shite isn’t it?
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