City won 8-0 on Saturday and frankly it didn’t bother one little bit. I laughed. There’s a few reasons it didn’t bother me. The most obvious one is that we’re five points ahead rather than five behind. The other team winning when you're doing the chasing is horrible.
Another reason is that it’s too early to be stressing out too much about their results. The main reason though is that I’d already written this game off as an easy City win. There was no chance of Watford getting anything. In fact, I’d even go as far as to say that there has never been a top flight game in this country that was a more obvious home win.
Watford are terrified of City. They’re mentally scarred from all the beatings they’ve taken, not least the utter humiliation that inflicted upon them in the Cup Final a few months back.
Watford were beaten before they started and them conceding in the first minute was nailed on. Occasionally in a group chat with some of the lads we’ll predict what minute City will score. We didn’t do it this time but I’d have taken the first minute all day on this one. I'm guessing so would the other lads too though. It wasn't hard to predict was it?
Still, I have to admit that even with my rock bottom expectations of Watford I didn’t see them being 5-0 down inside 18 minutes or whatever it was. That’s just shameful. Yeah City are great, we know this, but you’re a fucking Premier League side, you spineless twats. Letting in a goal every three minutes is outrageous. The only reason it didn’t end up about 15-0 is because they got extremely lucky with some near misses and the woodwork bailed them out a couple of times.
City didn’t ease off and there was definitely an element of “sending out a message” here. After losing to Norwich someone was always going to get it, and Watford were just about the perfect opposition for them. Ben Foster (who was shite) said afterwards that they are by far the best team he’s ever faced. Is that right? When they come to Anfield we need to put nine past the prick.
I’ve got no beef with Watford but I hope they go down this year simply because whoever takes their place can’t possibly put up less resistance against City than they do. I said last week that maybe other teams will see what Norwich did, how they exposed City’s only real weakness (a shite defence), and they might follow suit.
What did Watford do? Played Deulefeu up front on his own and just tried to keep the score down. Shithouses got exactly what they deserved. In fairness to Deulefeu, he almost scored to make it 1-1 when he skinned the hapless Otamendi but was denied by Emerson. Even if that had gone it wouldn’t have made any difference as the lack of effort from his team-mates was appalling. No closing down, no tackling, no tracking runners, they were like rabbits in the headlights.
It’s funny though really, because in a way I’m happier that City won 8-0 than if they’d edged a close game. It’s the psychological aspect of it. They win 8-0 and they know we’ve got an incredibly tough game the next day. They’ll have been smelling themselves, feeling great, and then we went and got a scrappy 2-1 at the Bridge. That’s demoralising. It’s what we’ve got to do though. They’re chasing, they need us to slip up, so let’s just keep winning until they wilt. And if they don’t wilt, just keep winning anyway.
It’s mad how much better than everyone else us and City are. I know I keep saying it, but it is fucking mad. Spurs are arguably the third best team and we’re both going to finish about 30 points ahead of them again if the opening weeks are anything to go by. Spurs didn’t deserve to lose at Leicester though in fairness.
I don’t tend to watch many live games other than ours as I prefer to just watch the highlights on MOTD. I watched most of this game though and it was a cracker. It could have gone either way and ultimately it was decided by the tiniest of margins courtesy of VAR. Spurs have benefitted from it a few times but on this occasion they were on the wrong end of it.
Kane had given them the lead with a strange goal, improvising as he fell to the ground and somehow managing to smuggle the ball past Schmeichel. Great finish.
Earlier Leicester had a goal ruled out by VAR. Ndidi put the ball in the net but it was chalked off because that Ayoze Perez loser was a yard offside. Correct decision and not even close really. The one that done Spurs in though in the second half couldn’t possibly have been any closer.
To me that should not have been disallowed because you can’t know for certain that Son was offside when the ball was played, because it’s impossible to freeze the frame at the exact millisecond the ball is passed to him. It’s guesswork at that point really.
It’s tough though and I don’t blame the video official for it, because he can only try and pause it as close to the moment the ball is played as he can, but it's not an exact science
It’s just shit. Spurs thought they’d scored, they celebrated and then three minutes later it’s chalked off for the sake of one centimetre even though everyone knows that the technology isn’t accurate to that degree. It’s shit really. Spurs got completely hosed there. I don’t think the officials could have made any other decision though. They have to use the technology and because of that the goal couldn’t stand, even though morally it should have.
Spurs were utterly deflated by it for a while and Leicester were given a new lease of life. They equalised almost immediately through Ricardo and then Maddison hit the winner with a few minutes left. Great result for them and another shit one away from home for Spurs.
Back to the offside though, I don’t like how it’s interpreted. To me, the rule needs changing. I really don’t like this shit where they draw a line from the part of the body that is nearest the goal. It should just go from the feet. Until this video shit was brought in that’s actually how I thought it was interpreted. I don’t care if a striker is leaning one way and a defender the other, meaning the striker’s head or arm or shoulder or his dick is offside. It’s stupid. Just judge it from where his foot is planted.
Son was adjudged to be offside because of where his shoulder was. That’s bollocks to me that. Measure by the standing foot of the striker compared to the standing foot of the last defender. Much more simple and fair. By that method, Son was actually onside. It won’t get changed though because the rule makers seem to want to ruin the game by making things unnecessarily complicated.
So anyway, the upshot of all that was that Spurs were unlucky and Leicester took the points. I’m feeling good about my top six pick for Leicester. I’m almost certain they’ll do that, and the way some of the other top six sides are going they might even be pushing for top four. I’m not prepared to go there yet, but since Brendan got there in March they do have the fourth highest amount of points and it’s a fairly decent sample size.
Moving on, and what about them Blues eh? Fucking hell. Their away form is enough to get Silva sacked, but they’d been good at home so the heat had been off him. Getting beat 2-0 at Goodison by Sheffield United though, damn.
It was a bit of a freak result in fairness to Everton. The Blades had one shot on target but scored two goals. Everton didn’t play well by any means, but they had enough chances to win on another day. Chris Wilder’s side were awful with the ball but without it they were great. They were everything that Watford weren’t. They chased, they closed down space, they hurled themselves in front of shots, they did everything that a team facing a superior opponent needs to do.
Mina’s own goal set the Yorkshireman on their way but no blame should be attached to the big defender. That was all on Pickford who weakly tried a punch and completely missed the ball. I’m starting to think he might be the most over-rated player in the entire league. He fucks up all the time but it hardly ever gets spoken about for some reason. He didn’t cover himself in glory on the second goal either, as Mouset’s shot went through his legs.
The vultures are circling for Silva now, so much so that Everton might actually have to try and have a go against City this weekend. I know, imagine!
I’m calling that one now. Everton will get something from that game. And by something, I don’t mean an absolute bumming. I mean they’ll get a draw or a win. I know, you’re wondering what I’ve been smoking. Shit, I’m wondering what I’ve been smoking as I’m reading that back and saying “what are you on about, you fucking biff”, but I’ve said it and I’m sticking by it. You can take the piss next week, or you can hail me as a fucking hero. We’ll see.
It was a case of the dung pile after the Lord Mayor’s show for Norwich as they headed to Burnley and lost 2-0. It wasn’t as predictable a defeat as Watford at City, but it came as no surprise. After beating City you’d probably want to play someone that plays in a similar style. Instead they had to play Burnley. It’s almost like a different sport. It’s like beating Roger Federer and then the next week you’re playing snooker against Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Chris Wood scored twice in the opening quarter of an hour as Burnley just had their way with Norwich. Barnes was hacked down in the box but the ref waved it away and VAR turned a blind eye, as usual. Well deserved win for Burnley who are well and truly back to their middle of the table selves now.
Newcastle v Brighton was predictably shit. It was 0-0 but only thanks to Fabian Scher who made a stunning goal line clearance to preserve a point for the Geordies. Big Andy made his return and was given a hero’s welcome by the crowd. Remember the dog’s abuse they gave him when he went back there as a Liverpool player? Even though he’d been at pains to tell them how he never wanted to leave and he was forced out. Fucking Newcastle fans.
I’m happy for Carroll though, I hope he does well in the dozen or so games he’ll be available for between injuries.
There were loads of empty seats at St James’. You never see that, but maybe finally the penny has dropped and they’ve realised that boycott’s are the only way they’re going to make a difference.
Before I forget, there was a game on Friday night. Bournemouth beat Southampton 3-1 in El Coastico. Ake headed the Cherries in front and Harry Wilson scored his third goal of the season to make it 2-0. So pleased for him and hopefully he can keep this going. Solanke seems to be getting some starts now and he thought he had an assist for Josh King only for VAR to rule it out. Again, we’re talking about a couple of inches but it was probably the right call.
Southampton got a bullshit penalty when Adams knocked the ball past Cook and then kicked him. The defender didn’t challenge him but Adams made sure there was contact. Easy to see why the ref would be fooled by it, but VAR did him no favours again. A similar thing happened at the other end as King got his body in front of Cedric and was barged over. This time the ref waved it away and VAR, surprise surprise, backed him. For what it’s worth I don’t think either were penalties, but the one that wasn’t given was more of a foul than the one that was.
Ward-Prowse converted the pen but Southampton couldn’t find an equaliser and Callum Wilson wrapped it up in stoppage time after a mix up between keeper and centre half. Bournemouth have got goals in them with the two Wilsons and King. My boy Ryan Fraser can’t even get in the starting line up at the moment.
Onto Sunday now, and Arsenal got out of jail against Villa at the Emirates. Villa played well but as usual their arses went late on and they blew it. They went ahead through McGinn and it wasn’t against the run of play either. Maitland-Niles was then sent off for a second yellow card but Arsenal showed some rare balls to dig in and get the result even with ten men.
Gendouzi drove into the box and was fouled. Pepe took the pen to claim his first goal for his new club. Wesley restored Villa’s lead following good play from Grealish. That goal came from Arsenal doing one of those daft short goal kicks and losing the ball. Villa had them right where they wanted them, but they didn’t kill them off and with nine minutes left Chambers equalised after capitalising on a mistake by Mings.
Three minutes later Aubamayeng won a free-kick (looked like a dive to me) that he smashed in from 20 yards. Villa then wanted a penalty when the ball struck the arm of Sokratis. His arm was by his side, but it wasn’t tight to his side though. Probably 60/40 in favour of a pen so I can see why Villa feel aggrieved. You win some of those, you lose some. Bottom line is Villa had the lead against ten men, twice, and they couldn’t get the job done.
Last week I wrote this about Palace:
“Palace are dreadful and I can’t get over how high they are in the form chart. Genuinely baffling as it feels as though they lose every week. I think it’s because even when they win it’s usually 1-0 thanks to a late goal against ten men or some shit. They’re a terrible team and they might get relegated.”
What happened this week? They were 1-0 up against 10 men and heading towards a typically unimpressive, unconvincing win. I was all set to come on here and pat myself on the back, and the soft cunts conceded in the 6th minute of stoppage time and allowed Wolves to pick up a point. The way Palace handled the last couple of minutes of stoppage time was beyond amateurish. It was staggeringly naive and they deserved to be punished.
Finally, another defeat for United. The bigger shock would have been if they’d gone to West Ham and won. It was a terrible game lacking in quality, but West Ham were marginally less shite and therefore deserved the points. Yamolenko got the first and Cresswell finished them off with a quality free-kick.
United are so bad. They’ve lost twice as many games as they’ve won since they had that flukey win over PSG last season. They can’t defend and they can’t attack. It’s the worst United side since the 80s and it’s not even close. Great isn’t it? They’ll probably throw a load of kids in as a desperation measure and to try and give the fans some hope.
The one they seem to have the highest hope for is Mason Greenwood, who is a massive gobshite. I saw this video he posted last week and it was bad I reckon even Jesse Lingard was cringing. What a fucking embarrassing twat.
Recommended Comments