Sunday Jul 11:
The diary has been a break during the Euros but we’re back on track now and there’s a couple of things worth recapping.
Firstly, Argentina beat Brazil 1-0 last to win the Copa America. Messi finally won something with his country. I’m glad, not specifically for him but because this was their first tournament since Diego passed away so I’m glad they won it.
The real story here though wasn’t Argentina. It was Brazil, and specifically their buffoon coach who picked Ederson over Alisson, Fred over Fabinho and that Richarlison cunt over Firmino. I don’t know what the reaction to this will be in Brazil but if an England manager made three decisions as completely fucking outrageous as that he’d be run out of the country, and rightly so.
Brazil have always been a really weird footy nation though. They have some of the best players in the world but have nearly always insisted in also picking some of the worst too, almost like they’re trying to give the opposition a chance.
The other main thing that’s happened during the hiatus is of course Rafa becoming Everton manager. My thoughts on this are that I couldn’t give a fuck but that I know it’s going to be hilarious and won’t end well for him or them.
As far as I’m concerned Rafa has the right to go wherever he wants and it doesn’t upset me at all that he’s gone there. But then I don’t care about him one way or another. I don’t wish him well and I don’t wish him any ill either. I can imagine that those who still love the guy are feeling a bit conflicted now as it’s weird as fuck seeing him in their training gear taking sessions with Big Dunk.
He’s got no chance there though because there’s such a high proportion of their fans that hate him, and justifiably so. I don’t blame them at all. They’ve hated him for years and now they’re expected to just put that to one side because that lunatic Moshiri went against their wishes and hired him. Fuck that, I completely see their point.
Kenwright didn’t want him either, nor did Brands. We know how this movie ends because we’ve seen it time and again. He’ll have his crew briefing the press against Brands before the month is out. He’s done it at every club he’s been at but this situation is way more volatile than he’s had before because he doesn’t have the fans onside this time.
Maybe he’ll win them over with some good results, but it won’t last. As soon as they have any kind of bad run it’s going to kick off and I’m well and truly here for those fireworks.
So what else? We haven’t signed anyone else despite lots of rumours, especially about midfielders. Italy won the Euros but that’s been covered in the round up so no need to delve further into it here.
Monday Jul 12:
Fabrizio Romano says we’re probably going to sign Renato Sanchez. So in other words, we’re not signing Renato Sanchez. Just waiting for confirmation on that, which will come when the second Italian chuckle brother, Tancredi Palmeri, also says it’s happening. That’s when we can finally close the door on that one.
Harry Wilson is a target for Brentford. That might be the best move he could make. His stock has fallen a lot since that loan he had with Bournemouth when half the teams in the Premier League and everyone in the Championship would have crawled over broken glass just to kiss his left foot.
Brentford play decent stuff and they might be the best he can do now. I really want him to go and do well somewhere as he was a victim of circumstances here. I’m not suggesting he’d have made it, I just mean he’s barely played any games and that pains me as we’re the team he supports and any appearance would mean the world to him. He was always out on loan or injured whenever the door might have been open for him.
The fallout from England’s loss to Italy continues as Mourinho is the latest one to take a shot at Southgate and also at senior players who didn’t take a pen. "I think it doesn't matter if you are a great penalty taker or not in this situation. Where was Sterling? Where was Stones? And where was Luke Shaw?" he asked.
"Why didn't Henderson or Walker stay on the pitch? Because in reality it's very, very hard for Rashford and Sancho to come on and take a penalty after one touch on the ball. But for Saka to have the destiny of a country on his shoulders I think is too much."
I agree with him but when you have Grealish coming out to say he desperately wanted a pen but Southgate wouldn’t let him take one, it’s probably not wise to point the finger at Sterling, Stones or whoever. There’s a video doing the rounds where it looks like Grealish was behind Pickford in the pecking order. Usually you’d be offended by that but Pickford probably should have been one of the first five as I’d back him to score ahead of almost everyone else.
This is on Southgate, and to be fair he’s said as much himself. He’s trying to take all of the responsibility for it and fair play for that, but it is all on him so it’s the least he can do. Some managers, Mourinho most definitely included, would never dream of taking the blame himself though so Southgate gets credit for that.
I think Didi Hamann said it best when it comes to Southgate. Some fan had a go at him for being ‘hostile’ towards England he replied “Nothing to do with being hostile. You threw two tournaments away by being negative yet your manager gets knighted. No wonder you don’t win anything”. He’s right, but I can’t say I want that to change. Especially when you see the fucking state of the fans behaviour last night and then the shithouses attacking the lads who missed the pens.
Tuesday Jul 13:
Klopp has contact lenses and I’ll be honest, I fucking hate this development. I don’t care if he needs glasses or not, he needs to be wearing them as it just isn’t right. Klopp without glasses is like… I don’t have a comparison but give me time and I’ll come up with one. I’m too stressed out here at the thought of Jurgen never wearing his glasses again.
What next? Ditching the baseball cap? I don’t like this development at all. It’s giving me serious Rafa getting fat and growing a goatee vibes. This isn’t good. Not at all.
On the transfer front, Ozan Kabak is available for around £8m so naturally there are people saying we should snap him up. What for? He’d be sixth in line at best and it would be another overseas player to the quota. It makes no sense whatsoever, even if that is a bargain fee. Someone will get themselves a good deal there but it shouldn’t be us.
Wednesday Jul 14:
Rumour today that we want one of the Italian forwards. Berardi from Sassuolo. Not really any surprise to see us linked with him as the Italians played a great high pressing game and he did catch the eye. Sassuolo want Grujic so expect lots of lazy “possible swap deal” articles even though swap deals are rarer than Everton trophies.
There’s lots of talk that Barca and Atletico are doing a swap though, with Griezemann and Saul Niguez. Some reports in Spain said we were really close to signing Saul but then Barca came in and complicated things because Atletico want Griezemann back.
Why the fuck would Saul go along with that though? Barca are in a fucking right state and have just given Messi a five year deal which means they’ll still be paying him a shitload even when he’s pushing 40. They’re a basket case of a club and if we genuinely are in for Saul he’d be off his fucking head to let that chance go to join Barca.
I’m really not arsed if we get him or not. In fact, looking at our squad I’d be reluctant to be signing any more overseas players until we add one or two to the homegrown quota because we’re really sailing close to the wind on that now.
Thursday Jul 15:
Elliott has signed a new deal and reports say he won’t be loaned out again. I wouldn’t put too much stock in those reports as we always get this kind of thing and either the club are lying or the situations are usually fluid. If we sign another forward and Shaq doesn’t leave, Elliott will be out on loan I’m sure.
Ideally I’d like him to stay and get games, but if he’s not getting games there’s no way they won’t have him playing somewhere. He’s clearly a huge talent and seems like a top lad. I have no doubt he’ll make an impression here and there’s a chance he might become a genuine superstar.
What’s his position going to be though? If we play the same style and system we are now I don’t know where he fits into that. He’s not exceptionally quick and he’s not going to be scoring 30 goals a season so Mo’s position doesn’t seem right. Maybe he could develop into a false nine, or maybe we switch to 4-2-3-1 and he plays as a ten. The interesting thing is if he’s such a generational talent maybe we eventually change the formation to get the best out of him.
Meanwhile, I read a brutal, sickening and tragic story today about some sick fuck in Kenya who killed ten kids and drank their blood because he is convinced he’s a vampire. It’s just horrific and there’s absolutely no way anything about that story could be funny, right?
Wrong. Maybe this makes me a bad person as it is such a fucking horrible thing, but I think it’s impossible not to look at this and guffaw at least a bit at the unexpected plot twist….
It was posted in the group chat and the best two responses were “he thinks he’s a vampire but I bet that isn’t even his most extreme belief” and also “I’m not sure we’ll see Everton win a trophy in my lifetime…. and I’m immortal” Not gonna say who it was as I don’t want to give him credit. He’s lucky I didn’t just steal them as my own.
Friday Jul 16:
So Arsenal are bidding £50m for Ben White. Makes complete sense because whenever I’ve watched Brighton I’ve been much more impressed with the defending of Dunk and Webster than I have with White, but White is obviously the more accomplished on the ball. £50m for him is mental but then so are Arsenal.
The lads have been in training all week and I have to confess I haven’t watched any of the content on LFCTV or the club social media. I dunno, I just don’t think I’m ready for footy to come back yet.
The other thing is I’m really starting to hate the off season because of the summer transfer window. We often do a deal or two right at the start and then generally don’t do much until very late, which means we have a spell in the middle where everyone completely loses their minds, fuelled by the likes of the Echo (who reproduce every transfer link regardless of where it comes from) and the Athletic (who then shit all over those links and make fans think we aren’t going to do anything).
The summer is a pretty miserable time if you let transfers dominate your thoughts, especially when you know both man clubs and Chelsea re probably going to throw the kitchen sink at players now that FFP is being put on hold.
We’ve spent £40m on a new signing already but he’s a defender so it doesn’t count. By that I mean there’s nothing exciting or sexy about it. He filled a need and he may end up being class, but if we’d signed a boss midfielder or forward than I wouldn’t give a shit about what we did next and would be completely relaxed about it.
We haven’t signed a boss midfielder or forward though and until we do there’s going to be a lot of pissing and moaning from fans. My suspicion is we have players lined up but aren’t going to do shit until we sell some.
If Divock is still here when the window shuts that’s going to be pretty fucking depressing, I know that much. I hate saying that too after all he's done, but his presence depresses me now. Just move on man, you should be playing somewhere instead of just bumming around here wasting your career.
.... and that was the week that was
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