Featured: That was the week that was (Jan 4-10 2020)

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Saturday Jan 4:

 

Ancelotti talked about how close he came to joining us in 2015 but says we made the right choice in Klopp. He’s a good egg is Carlo, and at the time I wanted him rather than Jurgen. I know, what a fucking goon. It looks utterly insane now, but I think my main reasoning was that footy hipsters all loved Klopp and Dortmund and I just rebelled against that. 

 

I also thought there was a boom or bust element about Klopp whereas Ancelotti was more of a what you see is what you get. I was half right on that as things have definitely gone BOOM in a big way under Jurgen. Mad that Ancelotti has ended up on Merseyside four years later though, on the other side of the park. 

 

It won’t work out for him but that’s not a reflection on him as a manager. He’s won everything there is to win and his credentials are impeccable. But this is Everton we’re talking about here. Failure is what they do and not even he will be able to change that. The other thing that counts against him is he’s a nice fella who has a soft spot for the Reds. Ask Big Red Ron and Marco Silva how that worked out for them.

 

In other news, hey he broke his Cherry!! Dom Solanke finally scored! He’s been there a year and it’s taken him until now to break his duck. Made up for him though, I always thought he was a really good player and although he wasn’t a fit for us I assumed he’d have a good career elsewhere. He still might, but 12 months without a goal is fucking grim. 

 

It must be doing his head in seeing Calvert-Lewin scoring freely even though he’s only half the player Solanke is, but it’s up to him to prove it now. Bournemouth are in real trouble as their squad has been ravaged by injury, so he needs to step up and score the goals that keep them up.

 

Nice little win for the u18s today. 3-0 at home to Blackburn. The team is so young now it’s hard to keep track of who’s who. Most of the regulars have moved up to the 23s but the 18s still seem to keep getting results no matter who they pick.

 

Sunday Jan 5:

 

L 1 Everton 0 That was just one of the most enjoyable derby games ever and it’s one of my favourite games of the season so far. I loved the Arsenal game but this was even better.

 

For all the praise that our lads deserve, you have to take into account how fucking woeful Everton were. I’d like to say that was because of how well we played, but it was mostly just them being massive cowards who bottled it because of Anfield. Poor Carlo is maybe now getting an idea of just what a hopeless task he has on his hands. Still, he’s being well compensated for the hit his reputation is going to take.

 

They actually started well and had obviously taken encouragement by the team we’d sent out, but when they missed those three chances they lost all hope and spent the rest of the game just expecting to lose. It’s what they do. 

 

Don’t forget, they’ve had games when they’ve come here on an equal footing in the table (sometimes they’ve been above us) but without fail they’ve shit the bed. Any time there is any expectation on them to do anything they just can’t handle it. You know the one thing that summed Everton up today? They won the toss and chose to change ends, even though they had 8,000 fans in the Anny Road. We could have played the under 9s today and Everton would still have had an inferiority complex.

 

To put this in perspective, this wasn’t our second team, it was more like our third. Several players in this line up would not make a second XI and there are one or two who might not make the third. Richarlison cost more than our entire line up. So did Sigurdsson. This was a derby win for the ages, one we can gloat about for generations.

 

We beat Everton even though we didn’t pick Alisson, Trent, Robbo, Matip, Van Dijk, Lovren, Fabinho, Hendo, Keita, Wijnaldum, Salah, Mane, Firmino and Shaqiri. In addition, Milner only played six minutes and Ox only came on for the last 20. 

 

I wasn’t even surprised. Origi plus any ten was always going to be enough. What a goal by Curtis though. Doesn’t get any better for a young Red that.

 

 

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[alles ist gut]

Top, top, “no fucker alive could fix Everton, and certainly not Ancelotti “ analysis there, Dave.

[rb14]

Good work Davey. Bless Pepe. He was once the life and soul for us. Infectious humour and a very decent keeper. On the bench for Villa? Nah.