That was the week that was (Nov 22-26 2021)

Monday Nov 22:

So OGS has gone then. Goodnight sweet prince. The fun might not be over for us yet though as Michael Carrick has taken over and please God, let him get off to a flyer. Let him win his first 10 games and let’s have Rio campaigning for him to be given the job and let history repeat itself. I’m not sure even the people who run United are THAT stupid but I’d like to find out.

It’s times like this when you see just how utterly clueless the media are though. Initially most were telling us that Zidane was taking over. Then he said he wasn’t interested. Now they’re saying Pochettino is “desperate” for the job because his family are in London and he’s in Paris. Hmmm. It’s a hell of a quicker getting to London from Paris than it is getting a train (or driving) from Manchester so that’s clearly bollocks too.

If Poch ends up taking that job it’s because working with the PSG squad is a hell of a lot more unbearable than we think, because there’s just no way you’d make that move otherwise. Sure, United are one of the world’s biggest clubs, they’ve got some really top players in the squad and they aren’t short of transfer funds. But to be successful there you not only have to get that team in order, you somehow have to overhaul THREE great teams. Probably the three best club teams in the world in fact.

And all the while you’re having to deal with the expectation that Manchester United should be winning titles, which frankly is a load of bollocks. Pre-Ferguson they were a cup team that was never anywhere near the title. Post Ferguson it’s been the same. This is actually who Manchester United are and Alex Ferguson is the only one who broke that cycle. The Ferguson years are the outlier, not the norm. At least our period of success came under four different managers so we had more justification in thinking it was ‘normal’.

One thing has been really funny about all this is how the United players have been kissing Solskjaer’s arse and thanking him for everything he’s done for them. Even Maguire, the tit. While there’s no doubt the little goblin was out of his depth and United are probably the worst coached team in the league, does that excuse some of the gross incompetence we’ve seen from some of them players? 

Is it Solskjaer’s poor coaching that caused Maguire to get caught dribbling on the edge of his own box and then lunge in to get a second yellow and leave his team in the shite? They were well and truly in that game when he did that. They’d got back to 2-1 and had momentum, and then he does that and it’s game over. Others too. Like Fernandez, who’s been shite all season. And Pogba too. Pretty sure Fred was sincere in his thanks though as unless United appoint the Brazil coach as their next boss he’s not no chance of ever being picked regularly again.

Tuesday Nov 23:

I watched some bits and pieces of the United game tonight as I was hoping to see them lose. I’d long since switched off before they eventually scored twice late on to win, but I checked back later thinking Chelsea would be on, but it was still Scholes, Ferdinand and Hargreaves waffling on (Chelsea were on the other side). I heard them going on about how different and so much fitter Sancho looked. Fuck off, Solskjaer has been gone two days! Not even Mr Motivator could transform someone’s fitness levels in that short a space of time. 

Also tonight, Chelsea twatted Juve 4-0. While I don’t think Juve are all that anymore, it’s still pretty concerning that Chelsea just never seem to concede goals and don’t have any problem scoring. I’m officially more concerned by them than I am City, even though City’s best (and our best) is definitely better than Chelsea’s best, they probably won’t have the same number of off days as we both have, and when they do they will still probably get a result because they never concede.

Meanwhile, Ancelotti throws some shade the Blues when asked how difficult it is managing Real Madrid: “It’s better to have a Ferrari than a Fiat 500”. That needs to be on a banner.

Wednesday Nov 24:

L 2 Porto 0. Yep, very good. Performance was decent, we got to rest some players, we got to give games to some who needed games and we won. Generally these group games are not especially memorable but this one was. We’ve had loads of boss wins in the group stages but very few stand out. This one will just because of the Thiago goal, which was remarkable. It isn’t going down as one of the greatest Anfield goals or anything like that, but it might be the most unique as I’ve never seen a strike like that. So fucking pure. 

It’s arguably the sweetest struck shot I can remember seeing and it got better with each replay. The incredible thing is that it doesn’t actually bounce, even though it looks like it does. It isn’t the ground that caused the ball to rise off the turf, it’s the swerve. I’ve never seen a ball swerve upwards before. It swerved that way because it was struck with the outside of the foot, only because he was getting over the top of it and not striking it face on, the swerve didn’t go left to right, it went down to up. Just an unreal goal.

Atletico lost at home to Milan and dropped to bottom of the group. Milan have gone from looking like the weakest team in the group to possibly finishing second if they can beat us in the last game. It would be nice for us to win and finish with six wins so hopefully we can do that and Porto can avoid defeat against Atletico. 

I badly want them out, partly because Simeone is such a tit and partly because I don’t want to potentially have to play them again. I’m not worried that they’d beat us, I don’t see that happening at all. I just don’t want to play them as it’s not a pleasant experience is it? It’s not enjoyable playing them because their sole intention is to fucking ruin the game. So yeah, come on Porto.

Thursday Nov 25:

Kinell, I’m not sure how Klopp kept his cool as well as he did last night when that African journalist was accusing him of all sorts. I’m fucking livid about it. The cunt should have been thrown out for shit stirring or for just being thick as fuck. If you missed this, the background to it is that Klopp was asked the other day about how he feels now that there are no more international breaks, and he said “well there is a little tournament in January”. 

It was so obvious that he meant it in a “well there’s the small matter of…” type of thing. He’d have said the same thing about a World Cup or a Euros as he wasn’t calling it ‘little’ or diminishing it in any way, yet this cunt shows up on the bounce accusing him of disrespecting an entire continent and demanding an apology. Klopp handled it well but he was clearly shaken by it, as you would be really when someone throws a completely unfounded accusation at you like that. 

The irony is that AFCON is fucking dogshit but nobody in football wants to say it because they don’t want to be disrespectful. Klopp didn’t say what he was accused of but if he had said that he’d have been right. Because it is shit.

Meanwhile, Ralf Rangnick is the new interim United boss and he’s going to move to a DoF position when he eventually appoints their proper manager. Everyone seems to be creaming themselves over this and making out it’s going to fix all of their problems. I don’t know much about him but I know footy hipsters love him so for that reason I’m not worried at all. He’ll be shit I reckon.

Meanwhile, ESPN report that we’re interested in signing Aaron Ramsay from Juve. 30 year old injury prone midfielder on big wages. As if FSG are sanctioning that move. And nor should they. That would be a really stupid signing. He’s got Newcastle written all over him. Assuming they stay up, which hopefully they won’t. I’d imagine West Ham would be sniffing around him too. They love an over the hill signing on big wages. As for ESPN, they've gone to the dogs since they let yours truly go.

Friday Nov 26:

We’re ‘leading the chase’ for Villa teenager Carney Chukwuemeka, according to numerous reports. I’ve seen him play a couple of times but don’t really remember too much about him as Villa completely outplayed us in the youth cup final and had four or five lads who looked boss. This kid was one of them but I don’t remember anything specific about him.

Anyway, he’s stalling on a new deal with Villa because he thinks he should be playing more. If he’s not getting a game with them he’s not getting one here. We’ve got eight senior midfielders plus Tyler Morton, so I don’t see this one coming off somehow. Unless Gerrard tells him to sign for us because “I’ll meet you there in three years” of course.

Klopp spends half of his presser having to field questions about the new manc fella. Obviously he was very complimentary, that’s what he does. When do you hear him say anything bad about anyone? I mean fucking hell, listen to how he described Southampton today and you could be forgiven for thinking we are facing 1970 Brazil tomorrow. This just makes me all the more mad about that twat giving him grief the other night.

Finally, the club posted an image of Hendo with the rainbow captain’s armband. I knew what to expect when I went into the replies but I went in anyway out of morbid curiosity. Sure enough, fucking loads of religious nutjobs (both islamic and christian) from thousands of miles away expressing their disgust and trying to force their warped prejudices onto a football team on the other side of the planet. 

I’d love one of our lads to come out as gay just so we can rid ourselves of these fucking bigoted gobshites once and for all. It’s bad enough they feel that way but it’s the sheer fucking arrogance of the cunts to expect our football club to bow down to their prejudice. Social media is a fucking plague on society as without it we'd never be subjected to these fucking knobheads and their backward views. 

….and that was the week that was.